Kurokawa
by Hufa Durf
Summary: Twenty Five year old Naruto is currently Head of ANBU, however wounds from the past are hardest to heal as Tsunade calls him in to become a Jounin sensei to a certain Team Seven...Now somewhat AU.
1. Chapter 1

Kurokawa: Black River

Rivers are the veins of the world.

Chapter One

The door opened as a large, male hand opened the knob to reveal a cluttered office, which would have been much bigger if the occupant ever took the time to finish the piles of paperwork loaded on and around the desk. The large bookshelves piled everything from books to scrolls didn't help with the organization either. Despite the cluttered look to the office, he liked the fact that it showed some personality compared to other offices he visited…mainly his.

"Ah. Naruto it's good to see you."

Behind his mask, Naruto passively stared at the Hokage. Years ago he would have said something to make her punch him through the walls of the office- he learned swiftly. Instead he took up a respectful stance. It really wouldn't do for the Captain of ANBU to show disrespect would it?

"You summoned." He replied; however inwardly he felt a twinge of unease cut through him. Hearing his name in her office didn't bode well for him. Did he leave something out of his report?

"Yeah. I called you in to hand you your next assignment and for God's sake take that mask off."

He had been right. Bad luck. ANBU never took off their masks unless ordered to and when they were it meant demotion or forced resignation.

Naruto removed the fox mask with red markings, allowing wild blond locks to frame his face. If people saw, they would have sworn that the Fourth Hokage had come back to life. The markings on his face however were what distinguished the two men. He even allowed his hair to grow out given how fed up he had become having to cut it when it grew too long. (His hair grew like a weed, something he didn't like but couldn't help.) He kept his face passive and devoid of emotion though inwardly he wondered what could have caused him to fall.

"Naruto I've been watching you work in ANBU for years and am grateful for all the things that you've done for the organization as well as what you've done for this village. However you're behavior has called for some concern. You never go out, all you ever do is keep yourself locked up, throwing yourself to your work. Don't get me wrong I appreciate that you're dedicated like you always are, however this kind of behavior will lead to problems in the future. As of now you'll return to Jounin status and be assigned to a genin team as their Jounin teacher."

Naruto's hands clenched into fists then relaxed. There was no point in arguing. Once the Hokage made up her mind, very little could sway her. Though he felt somewhat gratified that she cared, his business belonged solely to him. So what if he hadn't talked to normal people outside of his job with ANBU? Orochimaru and Sasuke were still out there somewhere. He pushed that thought aside.

"I see."

Tsunade pulled out a folder from her desk and tossed it in Naruto's direction. It landed at the edge but didn't topple over. The blonde haired shinobi stepped forward to pick up the folder. With practiced precision he flipped it open to look at the papers within. His hands stilled then with resolution slammed the folder shut then placed it down on the desk. Though his face betrayed nothing, Tsunade had known him well enough to read from his hands. Suffice to say, they were the most expressive hands she had come across. His subordinates never misunderstood his hand signals which often caused the death of many ANBU members. She quirked an eyebrow.

"It seems like you've seen something that isn't to your liking." She had to tread carefully. It didn't take a genius to know that he wasn't in the mood for joking.

"This…His…" Naruto said trying to push away years of heart numbing pain.

"Remarkable isn't it?"

It was more than remarkable.

"I can't."

She didn't miss the steel edge to his voice. Tsunade had been correct to assign him to the team. He had to learn to let go; to move on. Hell, she believed that Sakura would be the one to give a hard time moving on; however Tsunade had been proven wrong. In the end it was Naruto. Over the years she had watched him become a young man worthy of the village's pride. People changed over the years with every mission he completed, every life he saved and his dedication to the young children. Then he joined ANBU. Of course there had been trepidation on that fact and even some protests. Even so Tsunade's strong will silenced them and Naruto never again showed his face.

With each mission he completed with ANBU he became more withdrawn, more reserved which quelled the Council's fears that he might have been the deaths to many people. However, Naruto proved that he had a serious side, something not many cared to see. Truth be told, it frightened Tsunade. She couldn't do anything as he climbed up in ranks. Naruto had buried himself in his work, utterly obsessed in trying to bring back Sasuke as if he were the cause of the Uchiha's defection. Guilt followed him where he went. Neji even commented about it once in a report.

What Tsunade was doing was cruel. She knew. Even the best of medicines had the bitterest of tastes. In the long run he would come out for the better.

"You will. That's an order Naruto."

"Then tell me…is Kaito a member of that house?"

"No, but he's distantly related."

Naruto gazed down at the folder. Fate had it in for him. He knew somewhere above the Gods were laughing at his demise.

Elsewhere in Konoha three twelve year olds glanced at each other suspiciously. Umuino Iruka could see a disturbingly familiar pattern. There had been a saying that history tended to repeat itself and he couldn't help but repress a shiver at the shadowed truth in those words. He had especially observed the three glaring twelve year olds since the day they walked into the classroom. It didn't escape him how eerily they reminded him of Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. However the difference in this particular trio was that they were all childhood friends.

"Well, now that you've passed your genin exams, you will be divided into separate teams led by a Jounin sensei."

From then on Iruka began to read out team numbers as well as members. When he reached cursed Team Seven, he nearly choked as he read out the names of the members. He didn't know whether to be hopeful or pray for their souls. By the time he finished some of the Jounin senseis had made it to take a glance at their teams. A few were familiar faces such as Yuuhi Kurenai and Sarutobi Asuma. Iruka could also see that Shiranui Genma signed up to corrupt the next generation of shinobi. (Come on, what sane shinobi would walk around with a senbon stuck in their mouths?) Just as he finished listing off the last of the teams the doors to the classroom slid open without a sound, which could have been called a miracle since the door to the classroom always made some sort of noise regardless of care.

He never expected Uzumaki Naruto of all people to be coming into the classroom. Impossible, Naruto was the Captain of ANBU last he checked. Iruka gave the blonde haired man a small smile. He bet more than anything, Tsunade did this to help Naruto to move on in his life. It also made him feel much better that Naruto wasn't wearing his ANBU mask anymore. History had a funny way of doing things. As the blonde passed the other Jounins they immediately saluted him, which was the proper thing to do since he had a rank higher than them. Iruka knew that even though Naruto had been demoted, that didn't mean that he didn't carry the title of 'Special Jounin.'

Sharp blue eyes surveyed the classroom. Whatever childish playfulness that had been Naruto had been stamped out leaving a much hardened man bent on bringing back a traitor. Iruka hoped that deep inside that Naruto still retained something of his old self. The new one seemed so foreign. The frown on the blonde's face held the same gravity as the Yondaime's. The image of the Fourth was furthered by the rope of seals around his neck. Of many things that the Fourth had been known for, he held a reputation as the best seals master ever known. It would seem that Jiraiya gave him gentle nudges toward that field; he had done successfully for Naruto to wear that rope around his neck, marking him as a master of seals.

"Team Seven; meet me in twenty minutes at training ground seven."

Saaya, Yasuhiro and Kaname had watched the man come in silently. His face had been set in a frown yet not deeply enough to show any displeasure for being in the classroom. In fact the frown seemed rather natural on his face…then again it bore an eerie resemblance to the famous Fourth Hokage who held a reputation as the Yellow Flash and as a seal master. Seeing their Jounin sensei wear the rope of seal mastery left them feeling rather uncomfortable. They heard nothing about the Fourth's family. In fact from what everybody knew, the Fourth left no heirs even though he had been married.

The blue eyes pierced into their souls before they left. They noticed that the frown deepened when he gazed levelly at Yasuhiro Sato, weighing in his mind. The dark haired boy suddenly became conscious of himself. Great, barely fresh out of the Academy and the Jounin sensei already hated him. He shrunk back slightly in his chair to try and escape from those scrutinizing eyes. After an eternity, the cold orbs left. Yasuhiro let out a small sigh of relief. He scrambled after his two childhood friends to make their way to training ground number seven.

Everybody in the village knew of the training ground, which was shadowed by the Hokage Monument and the Hero's Memorial. Not many went there save to pay their respects. The few who did use the training grounds never left any sign they had been there. Instead the grounds carried on with unnatural cleanliness, especially the three stumps in the ground which were deprived of age, weather or bird droppings. It was the only sign that somebody came to this site to train since they had taken care of the place. Despite the mysteriousness about the fact that somebody would train so near a morbid place sparked the interest of many children. Of course the adults knew, yet they gently discouraged their children from prying into other people's business. What did it matter when the person never showed their face? The children had tried from time to time to catch the person training on Number Seven.

As the three new genins came upon the training ground they couldn't deny the fact that all this time their Jounin teacher, whom they couldn't catch the name have spent his time keeping the place clean. He seemed to be the type to follow the coda of 'cleanliness is godliness.' Their teacher was nowhere in sight. Saaya glanced around for a moment then tentatively took a seat on one of the three stumps making sure to check for any traps- just in case. Her teacher looked mean enough.

Yasuhiro glanced at Kaname who nodded slightly. The dark haired boy nonchalantly gazed from the corners of his eyes for any signs of upcoming attacks. Who knew what the man was capable of? He felt chills at the memory of the blue eyes boring into his with ferocity. He felt as if the man hated to look at his face despite his calm demeanor…He had been told he took after many people during his youth. Who did his teacher see in him? Then again what history did the man have to create such coldness about him? Finished with his initial sweep he turned to Kaname whose white brows were set with concentration then relaxed.

"He's not here…or at least his presence is quite well hidden." Kaname admitted.

"We still have ten minutes." Saaya said from her stump.

Yasuhiro gazed at his teammates for a moment longer then turned his gaze to the lake. For a training area the place spoke of beauty, which not many training areas shared…or at least none of the older shinobi he watched practiced in scenic ones. Then again the grounds near the Monument and Memorial were the most scenic of the bunch. Anybody could be lost in the nostalgia of the place. He could feel it in his bones years of teachers bringing their students to this very spot…He could remember a man with a goatee and black hair with three students…and before him two men coming to this spot to teach the much younger goateed man. White hair…black hair…blonde soon melted into faces vastly different yet so familiar.

He could almost imagine the Shodaime, Nidaime, Sandaime, Yondaime and Godaime dwell within this place. The feeling left him somewhat breathless. It was his family's bloodline limit. Not much of a use save for slightly above average perception yet there had been rumors from relatives that once in a while the bloodline would allow for one to be blessed with visions of the past. Some even said that the genetic oddity lie in the possibility that the Sota family were descendants of the Uchiha family before the civil war split them apart. Those who rebelled lost and were from then on cast out of the Uchiha family. That much everybody knew. The Yamanaka family carried some of the Uchiha traits from before the civil war. In fact they managed oddly enough to retain a Hyuuga gene, which made their eyes pupil less, yet the abilities within those eyes were Uchiha.

What Yasuhiro never anticipated was a hand landing heavily on his shoulder. Startled out of his thoughts he whirled around to find his sensei looking down at him. "You were looking into the past Sato. I advise you not to in this area…some things aren't meant to be disturbed." Naruto said gravely as he took his hand from the boy's shoulder. This boy wasn't like Uchiha Sasuke in the least. Sure he shared the Uchiha tendency to brood, a dominant gene he supposed but the level of broodiness that Sato displayed spoke that the boy wasn't like Sasuke, no matter the resemblance. Or so he hoped.

Naruto himself read reports on the Sato family with its own Kekei Genkai. The family never gained the prominence of the other doujutsu families such as Uchiha and Hyuuga due to the fact that the genetics gained from the Uchiha family were watered down to the point where the other families named it as a lesser house. Other families knew that the Satos carried family techniques but the information of the fact that the techniques were in fact Kekei Genaki weren't released to the public. Besides the family in itself didn't go to lengths to actually show the strength of watered down Uchiha blood. If it were remotely possible for the Satos to ever revive the recessive trait of the Sharingan then the Uchiha clan could possibly be revived since the last two members were branded blood traitors to the village with bounties on their head thus eliminating one of the Four Ruling Houses. However if the Satos revived the dormant doujutsu then the balance could be restored. Naruto wondered if the Sharingan would be revived then would the Satos awaken the possibility of madness which went along with the Uchiha line.

He had no other choice. Tsunade had given him orders from both councils. Balance had to be maintained and the Uchiha family revived through proxy.

"I know that you're capable of managing the children along with coaxing the Sharingan from its dormancy."

"What makes you think that I could be able to coax the doujutsu from dormancy in a family that hasn't shown any signs of it for generations? I took a look at the medical files and compared the DNA analysis. What you're asking for is impossible."

Light brown eyes bore into his blue ones. He could see that she didn't like what the councils proposed. He didn't like it himself either and understood that in the light of politics that it was a necessity for Konoha to survive. The years haven't been kind to the village. Orochimaru had Sasuke but never came back to finish off the village causing people to be more anxious than ever. Akatsuki on the other hand left him to his own devices with some harassing here and there. Somewhere on the horizon he knew that what time the two factions left for Konoha would soon be up. Konoha needed to be ready to meet the dangers of tomorrow.

"You will Naruto. Your father made sure of it."

His father? Since when did Yondaime have anything to do with him? He knew for a long time who his father was yet he made no effort to pursue the knowledge. It served no purpose to him for as long as he could remember, nobody would believe him. Instead he kept that knowledge to himself though he knew Jiraiya itched to tell him many times when he trained under the man. Tsunade on the other hand figured out already that Naruto know though she never voiced it knowing that he preferred to be left alone about the subject.

"What of Yondaime? I hold no connection to the Four Ruling Houses or their progeny, that decision had been made the day Kyuubi came to Konoha. The secrets of my connection have never leaked to anybody and ANBU gave me a reason not to show my true face, you must have realized the times I've accomplished my missions were with nothing but highly constructed bunshins attached to blood seals."

"I realized as much because I've been getting messages all day about Yondaime being resurrected from the dead and the councils have been breathing down my neck for withholding information from them. When I say that you will succeed you will understand why I say that your father made sure of it; that insurance comes from his decision to marry your mother."

Naruto left the office after she uttered those words. He didn't have the heart to hear anymore.

What he never knew wouldn't harm him. Sometimes ignorance was the best road to take.

There were looks of bewilderment on Kaname and Saaya's faces when their sensei suddenly materialized from thin air.

"Sensei…how long were you here?" Saaya asked from her stump as Kaname schooled his features to neutrality.

"Long enough for me to assess you as a team; judging from your positions, the three of you are more than familiar working as a team."

Kaname's eyes narrowed slightly at the blonde haired man. Assessing? Teamwork? Then it came to him. It was all a test from the beginning. The man wanted to see if they were capable of being true shinobi or not. It felt strange not to know of the man. Kaname never ran into the man in Konoha in his whole life. He knew everybody by their faces even a couple of people a part of ANBU. Yet he felt that the man appeared out of nowhere.

"You were testing out teamwork."

"Yes. You passed." Naruto replied as he assessed the white haired boy's eyes. He could see the boy try and come to terms with something. He knew that look.

From her stump Saaya had been studying her sensei. Every movement he made held perfect control giving her information that he was a man who liked control over himself. The tone of his voice though rather tight without emotion told her that he could sing well if he ever wanted to and could get across to people very well. What bothered her were his looks. There was no way in heaven or hell that a man with Yondaime's looks could walk around in Konoha without being noticed. "Who are you really? You share such strong resemblance to the Fourth that it's eerie. Even more so is that I've never seen you around Konoha or heard of you; it's almost as if you never existed in this village."

A smiled tugged at Naruto. Sharp. Team Seven always had sharp girls.

"I suppose not. I never actually stayed here for long; my position gave me freedom to move around the world on various missions. My name's Uzumaki Naruto."

All three of the genins stared dumbly at their sensei. For as long as they knew the name Uzumaki Naruto rang notoriously through many circles. Adults over forty spoke of him in reserved tones to neutrality, as for those under that age line, the name rang with respect and admiration. To the teens Uzumaki Naruto had served as some sort of role model for all things mischievous. Konohamaru, a Chuunin of repute with his summon the Monkey King was said to respect Naruto on the highest level. Now that they stood in front of the real man, they couldn't help but feel somewhat speechless. The man had the respect of the middle aged adults, the admiration of Konohamaru's generation and if rumors proved true, the favor of the Hokage herself.

Naruto had seen the dumb looks of bewilderment of his students. It would seem that even though he rarely came to Konoha save for some rest and briefings that his name still carried notoriety. He mentally flinched at what the populace said about him as he went on to do his job. As a child he had been somewhat of an idiot for doing the things he did. All for the sake of people knowing that he existed beyond hatred. Now, he cared little of what people said, growing up with hatred did that to a person. "I see that my name resonates with the idiocy of my youth…Come on we have to register you as an official team."

Idiocy? Saaya, Yasuhiro and Kaname glanced at each other then obeyed their sensei. How could Uzumaki sensei be an idiot when he had all the other Jounins salute to him? Instead of asking, they trailed their sensei back to the village where he led them to the administrative building. Inside of a large room sat Godaime with a smirk. Standing before her were five other teams with their Jounin senseis. Team Seven turned to their sensei in confusion. Where were the other teams?

"I see that you passed your first team." Tsunade said when she laid eyes on Naruto who only gazed back at her passively. It wasn't like he really had a choice in failing them.

The blonde could detect the message behind her words. "I hold no desire to pull off a Kakashi- I tire of history."

Tsunade and the other Jounins flinched at Naruto's implied message about Team Seven's notoriety with Jounin senseis who always failed their first genin team. Kakashi had continued that tradition.

"Then, you'll be held responsible for things that they do while learning under you."

Blue eyes narrowed dangerously in displeasure. "That I know more than anybody else in this room. They are my subordinates and I won't let them stray. They're ready for a low C rank mission starting tomorrow." He replied coldly as he turned on his heel.

"Wait! Naruto-san isn't it a little too soon for them?" Kurenai asked as Naruto paused in front of the door. Team Seven agreed with her. Weren't they supposed to start with D Rank missions for two weeks?

"Nothing is too soon for them. They've already demonstrated that they're more than prepared for the real world." With that he left the room.

That evening Naruto made his way to the Hokage Tower. As he passed people in the streets they openly stared at him. He had endured years of the treatment to let it bother him as he entered the building. He gave stiff nods to the people within as they saluted him. The administrators within the Tower knew of his presence for years. Though he had withdrawn into himself over the years they still respected him for his drive to protect the village.

Smoothly he opened the door then closed it behind him. Naruto came face to face with Tsunade who gazed at him gravely. It would have been for the fourth time he had run into her in the same day. A rare occurrence.

"If it's about the incident in the Administration Building, I ask for your forgiveness for being rude."

"There's nothing to apologize for. It's understandable that you don't want to do this. I didn't call you in to discuss business matters but personal ones. To be exact it's about your team." She said, waving aside his apology. Of all the people she had to deal with within a day, Naruto could get by without apologizing for a slight. She had known him for years to understand the little details about Naruto which other people missed.

Naruto ran a hand over his face to ward away weariness. He felt tired. The whole day proved to be one hell of a rollercoaster of emotions. He thanked God above for ANBU training to keep his emotions in check even though he more than wished to scream at the whole thing. "I didn't say that to make myself look good. They're more than ready for what's ahead. I could see that they knew their weaknesses and strengths. Most importantly they will grow together quite well. They're least likely to pull off something that the other Team Sevens are notoriously known for. I just don't want them to go through the same things that I had to go through. Five generations is more than enough."

Tsunade gave him a soft smile. What he said rang true. In the light she saw that Naruto's face didn't look as young as he should at his age. In fact he appeared much older with frown lines and shadows on his face which spoke of extreme weariness. When had been the last time he laughed or smiled?

"I know and I'm sorry that I forced Sato into your hands."

He shook his head. "What everybody wants is for what is the best for the village."

She noted the faint tinge of bitterness in his voice. The pain he still felt hadn't lessened in the least. "You did everything you could to stop him, it was his decision in the end."

Naruto glared at her then softened. He had no right to be angry at her when she had told him the truth. For years he tried rationalizing, thinking of the 'what-ifs' and coming out without any answers yet he still felt the urge that he could have done something; anything. "If I'm going to go through with this suicidal task then I require for Hatake Kakashi to dedicate some time into this little project of the councils." He answered as he turned his gaze toward the window to gaze at the Hokage Monument blazing red from the evening sun.

Author's Note: Wheh. The first chapter is finally finished. I've had this thing floating around in my poor mind forever. Now that it's out I hope that you enjoyed reading it. Please review so that I the author can have feedback on my writing style/content. _(I suggest that you **sign in or at least leave your e-mail so that I can send you USER NAME/PASSWORD** to access my Reviewer Goodies page. Aren't I a kind, loving author who rewards her reviewers?)_ For those who follow my other fanfics please don't be dismayed that I'm not updating Aka Ame or Seeing Beyond the Veil- I'm working on them though it's rather difficult right now since I'm rather fond of revising my chapters.


	2. Chapter 2

Kurokawa:

Sometimes one has to draw the line between what's right and what's wrong. Then there are times where we fail to do just that.

Chapter Two:

Everybody knew that Jounins, especially ANBU personnel were messed up in the head. Suffice to say Naruto missed the ball by a nanometer. The only thing strange about him would be the amount of milk he chugged on a daily basis, however it was a healthy habit compared to the Copy Nin's infamous lecherous porn novels, Jiraiya's peeping sessions, Tsunade's gambling habits and Asuma's cancer sticks or even Kurenai's questionable clothing. (Were they even clothes?) Naruto showed no outward symptoms of 'Jounin Syndrome' or 'ANBU Disorder.' Then again, ever since he joined ANBU, he cut all contacts with the outside world, immersing himself in his work. It wasn't abnormal by any means, just the bottles of milk found in his trashcan at the end of the day.

A hand reached out to open the refrigerator and grabbed a plastic bottle of Fat Free milk.

Perhaps he wasn't finished with drinking milk for the day…

Subordinates noticed his strange liking to the white secretion from cows and often wondered what type of milk he preferred. Well, if one would open the fridge door wide enough, they wouldn't find various flavored milk such as chocolate, strawberry, orange and mint. Instead they would come face to face with a label which proudly read, '100 Fat Free milk with Vitamin A and C additives.' Naruto found long ago that Fat Free milk tended to last longer, taste better and make him feel refreshed compared to the hellish brew called coffee or the caffeine slathered soft drinks which could give any sane being liver cancer. How Asuma managed to drink the brown brew from hell and smoke his cancer sticks without dying of asphyxia was a wonder in itself.

Deft fingers twisted the light blue cap off, depositing it onto the table, whirling on its side for a moment before slowly settling down onto the flat surface of the wooden table. Neatly and swiftly, Naruto chugged the contents of the bottle down as he sat down to look at papers from ANBU headquarters. Even though he had been disposed of his position, he still had paperwork to analyze for them.

Coming upon a glitch in the paperwork, he glared at it for a second before grabbing a pen and fiercely making corrections and adding harsh jabs at the sloppiness of the presentation. There was a reason why ANBU personnel were given two days after their missions to turn in their reports. Sloppiness was unacceptable when there were archives containing important information and needed to be read on the fly.

Having finished his brutal attack on the piece of paper, he placed it back in its folder, adding emphasis of his displeasure in the document. Naruto's light blue eyes landed on the empty milk bottle. Shrugging he screwed the cap back on then tossed the bottle into the recycling bin. Hey, it was the economical thing to do. He happened to like Konoha surrounded by a large forest.

Tomorrow would be another day and he certainly wanted enough energy to get through it no matter what. With that he allowed himself to fall into his bed.

'_You're special alright…but I'm more special than you…'_

_He could never forget the sight before him. Everything he knew of his team mate had been erased and replaced by a being with blood red eyes and grotesque wings protruding from his back. Around him he could hear the thunderous roar of the waterfall pounding against the rocks at the bottom. The irony of him standing on the feet of one shinobi and Sasuke on the other never left him. Naruto felt torn between crying and laughing. Even so he couldn't shake that the eyes he peered into held nothing resembling human. Instead he felt himself staring into the darkness of primal chaos. _

_As a child he never feared tangible things such as spiders or embarrassment. No. His fears were on the darkness of the human soul. What he saw in Sasuke's eyes froze him, choked him and wanted to kill him. He barely escaped from that prison which Sasuke was ensnared in. It hurt beyond words. Then all of a sudden it all ended. _

_Naruto remembered the incoming rush of death as the fist slammed into his chest, pulverizing his heart upon impact. He had died that day, in those crystal clear waters surrounded by the sound of thunder. Two opposing forces, two paths, two lives, two deaths…_

'_I'm sorry but I'm still holding out for Sasuke…I really am sorry Naruto.'_

_Sakura…He had loved her since the beginning of time yet always knew that her heart belonged to someone else. Despite the fact, he still tried for her sake then it became too much. He still cared for her; he would never stop caring for her however all things considered hope was smothered out by the incoming truth. Slowly he vanished into the background, allowing her to her freedom. He dared not to impose. His ethics would never leave him if he did interrupt her life. _

_Once in a while a co-worker, especially Neji would ask him about his relationship with Sakura bringing back wounds not quite healed. He bore it silently, patiently as he replied that he and Sakura were nothing but friends and team mates. _

'_Oh, really? I could have sworn that you proposed to her quite often Naruto-san.' Neji answered with a touch of amusement._

_In turn Naruto returned the favor. Not even the Byakugan could see the differences in emotions and by this time, he had considerable control over his emotions. 'I would never do that Neji. It's just a joke between us. She's only a close friend, nothing more.'_

'_Pity. Tenten said that the two of you would make a good couple.'_

'_I'm sure we would, me wearing my mask and standing next to her. No Neji, there's a line that even I don't cross when I'm teasing her.'_

_Neji chuckled at that. Sakura had a reputation for her violence when it came to the wrong kinds of jokes or words._

_Naruto on the other hand closed his mind from the chuckle and continued to work on paperwork. He still had to go over the recruits' reports. _

Blue eyes opened to stare at the grey washed ceiling before a sigh escaped his mouth. He couldn't sleep, which wasn't surprising after all the things he went through. Grunting he flung aside his blankets and left the warmth of his bed to dress himself in a monochrome uniform of black pants and turtleneck.

Might as well as do some light patrolling. Screw sleeping.

On the other side of Konoha, Sakura entered her apartment after a day at the hospital healing and training interns. She had been working when she heard faint rumors of someone walking around the village impersonating the Fourth however she brushed it aside given that she needed to do her duties. However it brought a familiar pang of guilt as she remembered a different blonde who used to be her team mate before he shortly vanished from view. Sakura had heard that he joined ANBU and rarely stayed in the village but out of necessity. What she heard about him had to come from secondary even third sources. –Neji and Tenten mostly.

If she knew the address to his new apartment then she could have at least apologized for being rude to him the last time she had been with him so many years ago. However, nobody gave her the address to his new apartment since nobody else knew about his move save for Tsunade who refused to divulge any information on his location.

'_Besides, it's not like he's home. ANBU keeps him busy on missions and he's quite devoted to his work.'_

'_Still, I would like to apologize…'_

'_There's nothing to be apologetic over Sakura. He's moved on in his life, it's about time that you did as well.'_

She tried. Truly she did.

Sakura let her bag slide to the floor carelessly as she sank into her couch to gaze out the window at the moonlit night. From the distance she made out dark figures on random roof tops and couldn't help but quirk a smile. It was entertaining to see them hop from roof to roof at random intervals then pause before beginning again. By now she knew each of the figures by heart, having watched them for quite some time. Altogether there were seven patrol personnel out for the whole night, however tonight she spotted an eighth on the roof tops. Intrigued she went to her porch. The eighth person wasn't dressed in patrol garb but it was sufficient enough given that his clothes blended into the darkness…as for his hair, well it would need more work. She couldn't tell the exact coloring of his hair thanks to the moonlight making it seem almost white.

Long ago she once commented that Naruto's hair had an eerie way of reflecting white whenever the moon hit it. Peering at the man who had joined the patrol she saw that he didn't have anything related to Naruto about him. The length of his hair settled on his shoulders whereas Naruto kept his hair short in moderation which defied the laws of gravity without the help of chakra. She could see that the man preferred dark colored clothing seeing his entire outfit had one color dominating the ensemble- black. Konoha didn't have many shinobi with the peculiar hair color of white. Many of them held themselves in familiarity with her but this one had something about him which told her that she didn't know him.

Only the higher echelons of ANBU stayed away from the hospital, they tended to trust their own. Then again the whole world knew that the secret police of the Hidden Villages tended to be rather insane and extremely paranoid. Sakura hoped that Naruto would one day come into the hospital with a wound but she knew that it would never happen- not with his healing capabilities.

The pink haired woman gave one last glance at the patrol before she made her way into her bedroom. Perhaps Tsunade was right.

Morning light filtered through Konoha, awaking the civilians from their night of slumber. Shopkeepers began to open their stores as families rose to greet each other and go about the beginnings of their daily lives, mundane or otherwise. For Naruto the day had begun on a different pace and would end that way. His deprivation of sleep hadn't affected him in the least thanks to his tenant. Even the most hardened of shinobi knew to feel fatigued even without one night's worth of sleep. The feeling only got worse the more they went without sleep.

Patrolling had helped keep Naruto from brooding about the past immensely, helping him to focus on the protection of the village. Now that his nightly vigil had ended, he headed back to his apartment to pack his bag. On his way to the front gates of Konoha, he dropped by ANBU headquarters to leave the files for the secretary who started at seeing his true face but soon schooled her features to a cheery smile.

"Good morning Uzumaki-san."

"Morning." He replied as he handed her the files before leaving.

Briefly before beginning his two hour wait for his students, Naruto purchased some breakfast to cull the hunger he was beginning to feel. Shortly thereafter, he headed to the bathhouse. Thankfully it was early enough to avoid stares from other people as he swiftly washed off then changed into traditional clothing. Normally he didn't have much to do with them but considering the fact that he didn't have the safety of his ANBU mask, Akatsuki would at least be caught off guard for a second when they saw his face for the first time in years. By then he would have the advantage to use the precious time to fend them off as well as protect his students.

The clothes he wore were deep blue in color, nearly black and in the fashion of an official. Underneath were weapons of various sorts. One needed to be prepared for anything. Hanging around his neck was the rope of seals which signified one of his many areas of expertise. He checked the time on his watch as he left the bathhouse. Naruto made it to the gates with twenty minutes to spare. He only needed to wait five minutes as he watched all three of his students making their way toward him.

"You're early by fifteen minutes. I can see why the Academy teachers have much hope for you." He said as he nodded toward the gates. "Are you prepared to leave?"

All three genins nodded as they departed.

Author's Note: Gomen, this chapter was SHORT. I promise that the next one will be longer. Please review.

New reviewers, you'll get some goodies as a thank you for giving me feedback. As for the returning reviewers the password and user name are the same at my site. You'll have new sites to explore in a couple of days as I update.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: I hate to do this...but I need constructive reviews instead of one liners. Please criticize my work. I'm doing this as a hobby and to improve my English skills.

Kurokawa: Black River

Chapter Three:

Flames eagerly licked the logs of the makeshift fire pit as a single stick prodded at the burning wood for a while longer before leaving. The tip was charred black with a glowing orange ember as it emitted a small wisp of white smoke that lazily curled toward the dark heavens revealing huge spatters of stars despite the fact that a few trees obscured the view. Naruto didn't know whether to consider it a blessing that it was a new moon to appreciate the view or not.

Sighing, he glanced at the still smoking stick then killed the orange ember at the end before placing it to his side in the grass. The whole day had been spent educating them about the customs of Lightening Country and Hidden Cloud before they came to their stop for the day. The team had been more subdued that he thought, yet then again Saaya wasn't a fan girl and neither were the two boys Yasuhiro and Kaname were interested in beating the crap out of each other. All in all they were a quite bunch. Not that he minded of course. Even so, for the better part of the day he had repeatedly told himself that Yasuhiro held no connection to Uchiha Sasuke save for a vague blood connection to the Uchiha Clan.

He paid no heed when suddenly somebody took a seat next to him. That somebody didn't happen to be any of his students.

"Better late than never. You've always been like that- Kakashi." Naruto said impassively as he continued to stare at the cheery fire, unresponsive to its dance.

"And I see that you haven't changed since the day you've entered ANBU." Kakashi returned equally impassively. However inwardly he winced. He had hoped that somehow the bright, loud, blonde he had once known would come back. Alas, it would seem that it still had ways to go before returning to the stoic Uzumaki. Perhaps it could be attributed to genetics. Arashi had his moments of complete carefree actions and stoicism. As to Naruto's mother…It really shouldn't have been surprising. Even so, he hoped that some of Naruto's earlier brightness would return from beneath that cold exterior.

Naruto scrutinized the grey haired man before letting it go. "No. I suppose not. I still have yet to catch him and evade Akatsuki. Even so, your help will be appreciated. Apparently Tsunade believes that I can awaken that dormancy though you have more knowledge in the doujutsu than I. Fat chance that my mother had anything to do with it." He gave a dismissive shrug as dark eyes widened in surprise.

"You don't know?" Kakashi asked, mollified at the last sentence.

Blue eyes reflected oddly in the firelight, making them glow. "Know about her? No. Unless she was an Uchiha and I had the Sharingan I can't help Sato at all. Unfortunately I do not possess the damned doujutsu."

Kakashi cursed underneath his mask at what he heard. This wasn't looking good at all. Naruto had sharp instincts, he demonstrated as much when he calmly replied that he knew of his connection to Yondaime when he had been told. "Your father was an adopted Kazama who married the heir to the household, who was your mother."

"Yes…"

"Then you know that by default that the Kazamas have married into the Sarutobi, Hyuuga and Uchiha lines given that it is the Ruling House of the Four. Even more so, your grandmother was the sister of the heir to the main house of the Uchiha. Though she didn't have the Sharingan per say; she did have uncanny abilities of sight. The same goes to you. With one look at Sasuke's Shishi Rendan you were able to improvise upon it to suit your style even though you could have executed the very same move as the Shishi Rendan if you wanted. There have been other times that you were shown how to do something once and you easily caught onto the concept despite the fact that chakra control held you back."

Naruto's face darkened. "That and add the First's gene expressions, we have potentially a complete stranger able to activate the Sharingan. Even so it has nothing to do with me since it's quite obvious that I won't ever activate it. However you are right about certain points in my optical learning. Photographic memory has been something of a skill I developed over the years. I can only guide him so far on that alone. I'm rather surprised that you weren't straddled with the job."

"Well, I'm not part of the family. You are."

"As some of the Kiri shinobi say- that's just frall'n peachy. What next? 'Oh and by the way, the council was hoping that you too would be able to activate the doujutsu?'" Naruto said with a fair amount of sarcasm dripping from his voice.

The grey haired jounin scratched behind his back in an embarrassed gesture.

"Then that would give them more of a reason to hold me at a further distance. Isn't it enough that I'm denied of claiming what's rightfully mine?"

"Tsunade had cowed the Elders into agreeing to allow you to reclaim what was left to you once you finish with bringing out the latent Sharingan from the Sato." Kakashi answered.

Naruto frowned even more deeply. "It's a relief to see that some of them aren't against me for carrying it inside of me. Then again they couldn't fully ignore the revelation could they?"

Kakashi nodded. No they couldn't. Not when they were getting desperate.

Blue eyes on the other hand retrained themselves to gaze at the fire, memories of the past dredging up.

'_It's rather interesting to see that out of all the things you've done, you show true talent in seal crafting.' Jiraiya said with amusement as he examined Naruto's paper with a critical eye. _

'_In fact, it looks as if you actually understand the stuff.' _

_Blue eyes gazed up then looked away to the blue skies beyond the man's head. 'You just connect certain parts together like a puzzle to create a whole picture…' Naruto said as he turned his gaze to the white haired man._

'_Seeing that I've completely showed everything I could with the Fourth's techniques I guess it wouldn't help if I showed you the basics of seal crafting. After that you can choose whether or not to master that area of expertise.' _

_Naruto nodded as he took back the paper from Jiraiya. It wasn't much, just field testing for his knowledge in the area. The concept wasn't that difficult seeing how one thing led to another and so on. 'It's not to see if I'm gifted in the area or not.' Naruto replied as he folded up the piece of paper then threw it away in the waste basket. _

'_What I'm doing…it's necessary. I'm dying Jiraiya and you know that. Yamato wasn't able to transfer Kyuubi into himself even with the help of Tsunade's necklace. At this rate I'll be dead before I can put an end to this cycle. There is a way to stop this disease but what I'm about to do is against the law.' _

_A light bulb went off in Jiaraiya's head along with a warning alarm. 'You're not seriously thinking of combining sealing techniques with grafting are you?' _

_Blue eyes gazed down at the floor full of weariness. 'Jiraiya- I'm not stupid, slow at times yes, but not stupid. This is the only way to ensure success that the demon won't cause more damage than he already has.' _

'_Then we should go to Tsunade about this…'_

'_I already have.'_

_Jiraiya stared in surprise before he frowned. 'What did she say?'_

'_That I'll be able to pursue mastery in seal crafting. Once that is accomplished then I will go through with the procedure. I won't live for long but at least I won't lose more years off of my life than what has been lost already.' _

'_How…how much time do you have left?' Jiraiya asked. _

'_I won't live past forty-two.' Naruto replied as he flexed his hands. 'But it's still enough time to get some things done. I don't plan to die before I become Hokage.' He added with a grim smile. _

_Six months afterwards with grueling work under Jiraiya and other jounins who had expertise in seal crafting along with Tsunade herself, Naruto had progressed far enough to take the exam to pass for mastery. The test lasted up to six hours and ran through everything from simple guarding seals to complex medical ones that took up an entire room to perform. Despite the daunting task Naruto had proved his proficiency in the area to find out that his father was none other than Yondaime upon receiving the rope of mastery. _

'_You don't seem all that surprised.' Tsunade said as Naruto felt the heavy weight of the rope of seals around his neck. _

'_With Jiraiya and Sandaime tossing out comparisons, no I'm not.' Naruto replied as he gazed into the older woman's eyes. 'When will we go through with the procedure?'_

_Pain flashed in the light brown eyes as Tsunade gazed at the blonde haired boy who had proven himself yet again by taking upon the weight of a master of seals. 'Now that you have mastery we will work together to perfect a seal to graft some of Shodaime's gene expressions into your DNA.' _

_Naruto nodded as he flashed Tsunade a smile. It wasn't his normally bright smiles, but it was enough to put her to ease somewhat. _

_Yet from that day on, Naruto's world had begun to fall apart around his ears with only grim determination keeping him from falling with it. _

A hand on his shoulder brought him out of his memories to gaze unwaveringly into Kakashi's dark eye. "Hey, welcome back to the land of the living or whatever." He said.

The blonde shook his head then rose, making his way to his pack. He opened it up to pull out a medium sized box. Flipping the lid open Kakashi could see that it was an advanced field medic kit plus other things that would be best used in a lab of sorts. "Since we're not going to do things the hard, time consuming way, we'll just take the short cut shall we?"

"Still breaking rules as always aren't you? Alright. What do you want me to do?"

"Lie down and reveal your Sharingan." Naruto said as he set up a light. Thankfully they were away from the slumbering genins. Kakashi meekly complied knowing that Naruto knew what he was doing given that he had undergone the same procedure that he was going to do to his student.

"Don't blink and keep focused on my face. Whatever you do, don't move."

With that Kakashi felt sharp pain in his Sharingan eye but didn't move. Then finally it was over. He blinked and looked up at Naruto to see a faint glimpse of humor on the whiskered face. "I only took DNA samples from your eye. No damage done."

Kakashi grunted as he pulled down his hitai-ate over his faintly burning eye as he watched the blonde create a few clones before going through the procedure. It took a few hours as he watched Naruto go back and forth mixing and extacting from what seemed to be syringes as well as carving out an elaborate seal on the ground.

"Go over to Yasuhiro and keep him under sleep, make sure that the others won't wake up." Naruto said as Kakashi nodded with a soft sigh, still feeling a faint stab of pain in his hidden eye. When all things ended, he hoped to have Naruto give him some pain killers to stop the random pricks in his eye. Once away from the blonde, he silently bent over the dark haired boy who reminded him of Sasuke. Tsunade wasn't pulling any punches when she said that the boy bore a resemblance to his AWOL student.

Carefully, Kakashi lifted the boy up as he ran a hand that faintly glowed of chakra over this head as he then picked his way toward the blonde haired man who had finished his arcane inscriptions on the ground. Silently the clones puffed out of existence, leaving only the original who had a deep frown on his face before turning away to procure a syringe of the finished product. Kakashi laid the slumbering boy down as he watched in some sort of semi-morbid fascination as Naruto flicked at the thin needle then bent over the boy, gently pulling out his right arm. The sleeve was rolled up and secured. Swiftly with a precision of a medic nin, the syringe was inserted into the crook of Sato Yasuhiro's arm.

The liquid entered, leaving an empty syringe which Naruto promptly handed over to Kakashi who then disposed of it in a biohazard bag that had come with the kit. Naruto's procedure had been thought out carefully to have included even a biohazard bag.

"Stay back." Naruto commanded as Kakashi retreated to the very edges of the inscribed seal that began to glow as Naruto's hands flew in a blur added with strange chanting. Kakashi's eyes widened. It was ancient seal crafting techniques, nearly on par as Yondaime's sealing technique which required certain parts to be recited out loud.

Each arcane symbol began to glow even fiercer with each spoken word, surrounding the boy's body as they inched their way toward him. Suddenly, Naruto went to his knees and placed his hand over the boy's eyes, chanting swiftly as the symbols made their way toward Yasuhiro's eyes. Then, the glowing died away as the last word was spoken. Naruto's hand came away from the boy's covered eyes as if burned. Kakashi knowing that it was safe to return came up behind the blonde haired man and gazed down.

"I'm fine." Naruto panted out as he unsteadily rose to his feet. "You can take him back now."

Slowly the grey haired Jounin obeyed as he placed the boy back with his team mates then nimbly made his way to Naruto who had taken a seat next to the fire, sweat running down his face and rather pale. As he was about to ask about how the blonde was, Naruto waved it away. "All we now have to do is bring it out. If it's a success then there's hope yet that the clan will be revived. However it would be best to keep them under certain seals."

Kakashi's dark eye narrowed angrily. "What did you do?" He ground out.

Naruto raised a pale brow at the grey haired man. "Calm down. I'm sure that you've noticed something unsettling about the Sharingan. It copies everything that it sees- surroundings, hand seals...everything. I've spent time as the head of ANBU studying about the Uchiha family. No human's brain can copy everything and retain it in their minds. For you it's not as bad since you keep yours covered save for critical situations but for the Uchiha it's a different problem altogether, especially when they keep it activated nearly 24 hours a day. They copy and retain everything.

"Somewhere along the lines they have to discard excess stuff from their brains or else they'll go insane. I've put a blocker, if you will. The genetic defect won't come into play. For the Sato, the insanity has been bred out but there still lies a possibility that it might come again if the Sharingan is somehow activated. I'm not going to make any mistakes on my part and you aren't either."

Blue eyes watched the understanding dawning in the single dark eye. Naruto picked up the discarded stick and prodded at the dying fire bringing back flames which threw shadows off his face, but couldn't throw off the pain filled frown on his face. Every choice he made would determine the outcome of the future. Already he had gone and ensured the rebirth of the Uchiha clan as much as he had ensured the death of his own. Even so, he could only hope that he would have enough time and strength to protect those he loved from Orochimaru and Akatsuki.

He had already lost a dear friend and brother. Hell be damned if he would lose anymore. It didn't matter if his lifespan had lessened to barely a decade in which he would live and then suddenly die. There were promises to be kept; promises made long ago when he believed that he could live forever and grow stronger. Now he was older, wiser and knew better.

Immortality wasn't his. In the end he could only be what he had been best at. Mortal. Though the fact presented the most painful of truths he would only hope...could only hope that he would have enough strength left in him to follow through, like his father had done.

Back in Konoha, very much away from the borders of Lightening Country, a book fell to the floor, shattering the silence of the room that held medical records. Green eyes stared down at the open book with its black, written words glaring up against the pristine white of the paper.

The words glaring up would never leave her mind.

All those years without saying a single word- all that time he had been there for her only to be cruelly rejected and stepped on...he had been dying.

She never knew. Never knew that in his kindness he was in greater pain than anyone could have imagined. He never said anything, only allowing everyone he knew to live their lives as they wished, unhindered by worry. Sakura took in a rattled breath as her mind raced.

He had fooled all of them.

Every single one.

"I see that you've found out."

Eyes widening, Sakura turned to find Tsunade with a similar looking book in her hands with a sad smile on her face. The pain shown in her brown eyes.

"Why? Why didn't you tell me?" Sakura asked, her voice trembling with suppressed tears.

"Because he never wanted you to know. If anything else he didn't want pity."

"It's not pity God damn it! I'm his team mate!"

"And so is Uchiha Sasuke."

Sakura's breath left her in that instant, as if somebody had delivered a harsh punch to her stomach.

"He's going to kill himself to bring back Sasuke." She whispered, horror showing through her voice.

Brown eyes bore into green ones. "There's nothing we can do but try and support him."

AN: Whew. This chapter is longer than the last one! Man that was some emotional roller coaster I went through, typing it up. --; Please leave reviews, I need feedback on my writing style and grammar. The song 'Good Luck' really got me going on this fic when I was tossing draft after draft out the window. For those of you who haven't recieved the password and user name for the goodies page on my website, please indicate so since I've been too busy to keep up to date on who has it and who doesn't.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Give me constructive criticism. I'm in dire need of it.

Kurokawa: Black River

Chapter Four:

Team Seven stared blankly at the man who received the scroll. That was it? They had hoped at least that there would be some action from bandits...anyone. Saaya glared up at her teacher and the grey haired Jounin who had mysteriously appeared earlier that morning holding his so called literature, which was nothing but sickening porn. Kaname had developed a tick on the side of his temple every time he glanced at the man with only one eye.

For God's sake who would be mad enough to walk around in broad daylight with their noses stuck in porn of all things!

Everyone knew of the infamous Copy Nin Kakashi...it was just Team Seven had hoped against all things that the rumors of the porn obsessed man weren't true...Unfortunately it would appear that the man was addicted with it. In fact he went as far as to try to read a passage, which promptly ended up rather horribly. Uzumaki-sensei had given him quite the shiner muttering something along the lines of: 'Sick pervert...Corrupting children of all things.'

It had been the first time that they had seen the normally stoic blonde lose control over himself. Yet even though the break from the normal stoicism let them relax a little more around their sensei seeing that he had a human side to him.

Despite their disappointment, Team Seven immediately cheered up when Uzumaki-sensei and Kakashi told them that they would spend a couple days in Cloud learning a few techniques as well as training.

"Yasuhiro will be working with Kakashi due to his bloodline. Saaya, Kaname, you will be working with me." Naruto said as the three genins glanced at each other before nodding.

Kaname and Saaya had known about Yasuhiro's strange bloodline, which could look into the past yet other than that it didn't seem to manifest in itself otherwise. Most of the time the ability allowed for the Sato family to be good interrogators or genjutsu specialists. It would make sense that a Sharingan weilder would help him in that area of expertise. Uzumaki-sensei seemed more of the type to use ninjutsu though he had displayed proficency in taijutsu.

"We'll be working on taijutsu since Kaname needs work. Saaya, this will allow you to improve what you already know."

Both genins nodded at their teacher's words. Despite the fact that Kaname was a male with a heavier, stronger body, he specialized mostly in ninjutsu whereas Saaya went for taijutsu. Together they could learn as well as expand with each other. Yasuhiro on the other hand had proved to be a different animal entirely.

"On my word, start your exercises. There will be times where I will stop you to correct moves or to comment upon them understood?" Naruto asked as he recieved nods from his students. "Go."

He watched as red clad Saaya went after grey clad Kaname. The two danced around each other for a while, blocking blows yet he could see that Kaname was barely blocking the attacks. "Kaname! Block more to the right and keep your knees slightly bent."

The white haired boy nodded as he complied. Naruto eyed the two a while longer before his hands blurred with seals. A moment later he left a clone to oversee Kaname and Saaya as he made his way toward Kakashi and Yasuhiro who were going at it.

Kakashi wasn't really pulling any punches out on the genin but he was keeping back enough not to seriously injure the genin. Even so, it was enough to try and coax out the latent Sharingan. The chances had risen after the procedure. Even so there still had to be the trigger to activate it and the only way to do that was through battle.

Yasuhiro was agile like Uchiha Sasuke had been but unlike the other boy, he showed nothing of wanting power or anger in his attacks. Instead Naruto could see that the dark haired boy went along with it, seeing it for simple practice rather than a life or death situation...He needed to see it as a life and death situation if he was ever going to activate the dormant doujutsu.

Yet, Naruto felt somewhat relieved that the boy wouldn't follow the same path as him...He couldn't do anything about the past but he could perhaps help with the future. His right hand went to his chest, feeling the steady beating of his own heart...feeling the beating of his life as the clocked ticked away. Yasuhiro would bring hope back to Konoha. A kind of hope that had died away at Sasuke's defection.

These children deserved to live their lives without the pains of the past haunting them unfairly. History repeated and he intended to break it at the cost of his life. This boy wasn't Sasuke. The fact made him feel more determined than ever. Team Seven wouldn't follow in history's footsteps.

Blue eyes rested a while longer on the fighting pair before Naruto turned and left the clearing.

Elsewhere in Konoha, Sakura sat tight-lipped in front of her former sensei and village Hokage.

"Are you saying that we don't do anything about Naruto's condition?"

Tsunade waved a hand at the pink haired woman's words. "I never said that. There's nothing we can do about it. The damage has been done. Even with the demon's chakra completely sealed off, he won't live beyond thirty. Despite the fact that he looks his age of twenty-five years- his cells on the other hand are at their end and are equivalent to that of sixty seven year old's. It's a miracle that he's still able to move around the way he does."

Sakura leaned back, speechless for a moment before turning her gaze to the carpeted floor. "But you said that Naruto would be fine when you fixed the seal."

"We never fixed it." Tsunade admitted, her gaze landing heavily on the pink haired woman who flinched. "In fact, what we did was illegal and dangerous but went through it because we wanted Naruto to live."

Green eyes lifted from the carpet at the words. Illegal? Dangerous?

"W-what did you do then?" Sakura asked, afraid of what she might hear.

"Genetic grafting. We took Shodaime's DNA from Yamoto and grafted them into Naruto in hopes that it would control the Kyuubi. It worked but that didn't stop the damage until we later on sealed off the chakra. By then it was too late."

Sakura's throat went dry as she stared down at her hands as they gripped the fabric of her pants. What grudge did the world have against Naruto to give him this life? Her guilt intensified as did her self loathing at how she had treated him yet it hurt that he never told her...

What right did she have to know? It was his secret to keep and she had nothing to do with it! Even so...

"There's more to this isn't there?" She asked miserably.

"You can bet your life savings on that kiddo." A baritone voice said. Sakura turned around to find Jiraiya standing at the door with a frown on his face. Yet his eyes shimmered with kindness and understanding of the pain and guilt she felt. "I'm sure that the gaki wouldn't mind if you spilled all the beans Tsunade-hime. She deserves to know. Though Naruto would never say it outloud, I'm sure that he would have wanted her to know."

The blonde haired woman sighed. Sometimes she could never win against Jiraiya when he revealed a rare moment of insight, especially in a situation such as this. "You won't be the only one to run into what you did either." Jiraiya continued as he leaned against the desk, his dark eyes looking down on the seated pink haired woman.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for starters, there will be Hyuuga Neji and Hinata due to their Byakugan which allows them to see the status of Naruto's chakra coils. But as to your earlier accusation that there's more to this than just Naruto's condition, you are right."

Tsunade nodded in agreement to Jiraiya's words as she gave a small smile to Sakura. "There's been more to Naruto than meets the eye. Sandaime did one hell of a job keeping a major secret about Naruto's lineage. I'm sure that you've asked a couple of times about a clan with the last name of Uzumaki."

That was true. Sakura had asked a few times about Naruto's lineage given that he was an orphan without any traces of family. Her curiosity had taken her to a dead end since she never found anybody with the same last name. Much less any information on a family in the records. It was simply as if Naruto just popped out of nowhere.

"There's no such clan. Naruto's surname isn't even real. Sandaime gave him the surname of Uzumaki to cover any fact that his father was none other than the Fourth Hokage and his mother from the Kazama Clan."

All color left Sakura's face at the revelation. Of all things above. Naruto was the son of the Fourth Hokage and heir to the Kazama Title. A shiver ran up her spine. Of all the powerful clans in Konoha, Kazama dominated in the Four Ruling Houses. It was something akin to royalty to be heir to the most powerful of the Four. That and the second most powerful- the Sarutobi which produced Hokages. As for the Hyuuga and Uchiha, they dominated on the House Councils. The Elder Council on the other hand was run by the elders of the village, civilians and shinobi alike.

Even so history texts held the most powerful house in awe since it often married into the other three, thus it came as no surprise when it produced heirs that could use the Byakugan or the Sharingan even though it was a rare occurance. Like the Sarutobi house, Kazama did not have a bloodline but rather a unique ability in international politics down to local politics and could keep all other clans in check. It was the house to put an end to the Hyuuga and Uchiha civil wars.

The whole entire clan had been wiped off by the Kyuubi twenty five years ago...or so everybody thought. By law the heir to Kazama had to attend the House Council at the age of twenty-five. Naruto should have already been in his rightful seat of power.

"Why...why isn't he in his rightful seat?"

"As the sole surviving heir to the Kazama, he has obligations to accomplish before the other Houses will accept him. Once he's settled, the other Heads will retire and the heirs will take over. Unfortunately when I revealed the truth of his parentage, the other Heads sent him off on a mission to revive the missing Uchiha Clan.

"I have no doubts that he will succeed but they're not only straddling him with that House's revival. They're going to put him in charge of the Uchiha district as well." Tsunade said with a sigh.

"That's not exactly a bad thing is it Hokage?" Sakura asked somewhat confused. "But only an Uchiha is allowed to take that position. If my memory serves correctly- the Sato family is the closest in relation to the House."

Jiraiya shook his head. Sakura had time and again revealed brillancy yet she didn't have all the facts down. "Normally it would fall to them but they're not the closest in blood. Hyuuga Hiashi was the driving force behind the decision to put Naruto in charge of the Uchihas because of the fact that Naruto for one thing won't abuse his power and also because he's the closest of kin to the house. His mother was half Uchiha. It's on that fact that he believes that Naruto is able to also acquire the doujutsu. I believe that it's not likely possible but who knows. Hell it doesn't make sense but if he succeeds then they will allow him his rightful place- that among other things. Hiashi has taken a liking to him, which is a blessing and a curse."

'That proved rather enlightening.'Sakura thought nervously. Not only was Naruto dying, but also he had a powerful lineage with obligations. To make it worse, he was the last of his clan and his cousin was none other than Sasuke!

"Did he show any signs of the Sharingan?" Naruto asked calmly as he leaned against the trunk of a tree, watching his students prepare lunch near a stream.

The grey haired Jounin sighed. "He's in ways like Sasuke but he's rather calm about battle situations, despite that I'm sure that in due time he will access it. I've seen the beginning signs."

Naruto crossed his arms across his chest. "You're going to have to up the notch a bit. These kids are at the top of their class, smart and rather quick to catch on- a vastly different Team Seven from the others."

Underneath his mask, Kakashi gave Naruto a smile. "I suppose so. Normally there would be the girl, the genius and the idiot. This team however is like the Ino, Shika and Chouji team...well coordinated as well as compatible with each other. It helps that one specializes in taijutsu, the other in ninjutsu and finally the last in genjutsu."

"They've been childhood friends and never experienced any tragedies that could put them astray." Naruto replied evenly as he took the orange book from the grey haired Jounin. "And for sanity's sake, keep that book out of public view. Those children don't need corruption."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a kill joy?" Kakashi asked, taking back his book, but complying as he tucked it away from view. Feeling rather sorry for Jiraiya who undoubtly had been dragged off quite a number of times by the rather prude blonde. Funny that one. Not even Arashi had been that strict about Jiraiya's habits.

Naruto flashed the Jounin a slightly feral smile. "Plenty of times." Kakashi only answered with a sigh. The boy had not a single perverted bone in his body. Every team had at least one who appreciated Icha Icha Paradise! What a pity. "I was so sure that you would have been the perverted one of the team."

That remark earned the grey haired Jounin a glare worthy of Uchiha Sasuke on a bad day. He could see one of Naruto's pale brows twitch slightly. Luckily the man didn't punch him like he did earlier. Boy, did Naruto know how to give a shiner.

"Leave the women be. One would think that you've never seen a woman's body."

"Not everyone is graced with your Sexy no Jutsu." Kakashi replied smartly, waiting to see if Naruto would react.

"If I taught you then you would understand why I'm not thrilled about men peeping on the fairer sex."

He had a point. Kakashi winced. When Naruto put things in that perspective, things made a whole lot of sense. Judging from the tone of voice coming from the blonde, Naruto had plenty of expertise in that area. Then again to put things in perspective, Naruto did look great as a female- in an asthetic sense. "Personal experience."

"Akatsuki." Was the clip reply. Kakashi winced again. Okay. Not a pleasant reaction.

As if sensing Kakashi's unease, Naruto changed the topic.

"Lunch break is over. It's time for you to put things up a notch and for me to deal with Saaya and Kaname in chakra control." He said, pushing himself away from the tree trunk as he made his way toward the three genins. "I mean it Kakashi."

Scratching his head, Kakashi nodded. Naruto was serious.

Hyuuga Neji stared at the scribbled mess before his eyes and let out a soft groan. He never groaned save for when Naruto corrected paperwork. One thing he knew about the blonde haired man- it was that Naruto left no survivors when it came to reports. The red ink could have done a battlefield justice at the way it slashed through words and blotted out whole sentences. He had asked that Naruto lighten up just a tad bit when it came to paperwork, only to have the said blonde glower at him in a way that made even Neji uncomfortable.

Glancing down again at the paper, he winced at the verbal attacks of various degrees of idiocy- ironically coming from a former idiot. Naruto knew how to verbally assault just about anybody on paper. He almost pitied the new ANBU recruits. Keyword: Almost.

He shifted the paper away to find another report with a big fat 'REJECTED' stamped over it. The dark haired man had a sudden urge to bash his head against the desk. It would have been the fifth rejection this week! Apparently the demotion had done nothing for Naruto's meddling in ANBU. Then again Neji had shipped the paperwork over to Naruto seeing that he had to deal with running ANBU since Naruto no longer ran the whole entire place.

It had taken the white-eyed man a total of three hours as Head to understand how much work Naruto actually did as the leader of ANBU. Everything had to get approved, permission forms signed, meetings every thirty minutes and assigning missions...the list went on and on. To think that the other members had joked with Naruto for not doing much save for verbally castrating ANBU members for incorrectly written reports. The blonde had taken it in stride with a slight curling of the lips from behind his mask and amusement in his voice.

Neji didn't mind work but he had to agree with Naruto- there were some rather stupid people in ANBU. (Common sense-wise- To think that only 10 percent of the whole entire force could cause so much headache...Naruto hadn't been kidding about that.) Then there came the financial part of the whole mess. Neji would have to admit defeat in that department. He could handle meetings, assignments, permission forms and politics but he would admit defeat in the face of economics. Shinobi did not make good accountants. Especially shinobi from wealthy clans.

Earlier he had looked over the financial papers of ANBU to see that Naruto knew what to do in this department rather well. A little too well.

'Why spend money on something worthless when you can use the funding for something useful?'

The white-eyed man glared at the logs.

That night Yasuhiro stared up at the dark sky with blotched stars staining the heavens in white. He hadn't felt any hostility from his sensei but he definitely could see that the blonde haired man wasn't quite comfortable around him. As to the infamous Copy Nin...Yasuhiro had a better time actually talking to him rather than his own sensei.

"Are you brooding about sensei again?"

Dark eyes turned to see the Saaya with a frown on her face as the pale starlight washed her body in grey.

"I don't understand him at all. A ton of people like him well enough but I can't really see it given how cold he is." The dark haired boy replied as continued to gaze up at the sky thinking of his family and the warmth they gave him.

There was a soft rustle off to the side, undoubtly from Kaname. "From what I know, Uzumaki-sensei is an orphan from the Kyuubi attack."

A small trendil of memory came from the back of Yasuhiro's mind.

'People used to hate him for the over twelve years of his life and his best friend and team mate betrayed the village; nearly killing him when he tried to retrieve the wayward boy.'

Could it be that there Uzumaki-sensei saw something of that said wayward friend turned bad in himself?

The feeling couldn't connect with him having come from a quite an opposite background from his teacher's. For all his life he had two great friends- Kaname and Saaya to be there for him. He had a moderate sized family with a bloodline that didn't do much compared to the greater clans but even so it still held a position. His family members were pleasant and his parents loving-even his little brother (despite being annoying at times) were the most precious people in his life.

Yet when he thought of it...Uzumaki-sensei's coldness could be understandable. Though he could understand, Yasuhiro felt somewhat cheated at the fact that his teacher stood to avoid him because of some similarities of a long lost friend-turned-enemy.

"It still isn't much of an excuse." Yasuhiro deadpanned with barely concealed frustration. "Why take us on in the first place?"

Light green eyes that stood out against Kaname's pale features glanced at the dark haired boy. Not many in the village had such startling colored eyes. The vast majority of the population had eye colors of black, brown and white. There were some oddities such as startling green, piercing blue, unnerving red and pale green. Other than that almost all of Konoha's people looked the same.

Kaname sighed at Yasuhiro. "It's likely that he's took us on because he wants to forget. Have you ever given thought about that possibility?" The white haired boy asked.

From the shadows Saaya nodded in agreement. "I think that it's admirable that he's willing to do that, given that he must have gone through a lot. If what people have been saying about him is true, he'll warm up to us in no time." A grin played across her face as she lightly smacked Yasuhiro upside the head. "Now stop brooding."

Hands went up in submission. "Fine, fine. I give in." Yasuhiro said as he heard chuckling from his teammates.

Saaya had been born into a civilian family, becoming the first shinobi in the family. Ever since he could remember the brown haired girl showed a verocity when it came to physical activities. Simply put, she couldn't sit still. Her energies were spent terrorizing the other boys of all things. Humiliating yes, but in her case it seemed to work. The whole Academy held her in healthy respect given that she could cream them all over the floor with her taijutsu.

Rather ironic if one took a look at her parents who wouldn't hurt a fly. Her mother had a modest job of a herbalist who once in a while bred rare plants for medical uses. Saaya's father also pursued a field in science. In fact he headed chemical research in medicine for the hospital.

People have muttered that the fact that Saaya had come from such a mundane family had caused her to pursue the path of becoming a Kuniochi. A rather aggressive one at that. (For the most part Saaya had an even head on her shoulders.) However she tended to get carried away in fights, showing that she had an addiction to the adrenaline rush.

"You better." Came the smart reply.

Did he mention sharp?

"I think that's enough picking on him for today." Floated Kaname's voice lazily.

Kaname had come from a shinobi clan. It didn't take a genius to know from the hair color and the eyes. Oddly enough, people in Konoha who had odd eye colors tended to almost always be shinobi compared to the normal looking people of Konoha. Somehow it was the eccentricity of color that led to people like Kaname's family to become professional shinobi.

They didn't possess bloodlines but they had some rather nasty family jutsus if one ever got on their bad side.

On top of that, Kaname fell under the 'genius' label. He had the highest score in everything- or at least just about everything since Saaya made it quite clear that taijutsu was hers alone. When subjects of ninjutsu came up- Kaname could go on for hours about theoretical jutsus and whatever ninjutsus that have been known to mankind. Once started, he could never shut up despite the fact that he rarely spoke, unless it was neccessary.

Also, Kaname had been cursed to deal with a 'oh so lovely fanclub'.

"If you say so." Yasuhiro said as he took a deep breath, smelling the sweet grass as he continued to gaze up at the star-studded heavens.

The morning sun found Team Seven plus grey haired pervert...uh hum Copy Nin Kakashi making their way back to Konoha at a leisurely pace, taking a few breaks here and there with a couple lectures to enrich the students' cirriculum.

Given that the world had something against Naruto or at least the name Team Seven- the morning peace didn't last for very long. Nothing much fazed Naruto or Kakashi because they've seen just about everything there was to see to cause them to have a reaction.

Yet, that morning both Jounins felt surprise along with a fair amount of apprehension because standing there in the middle of the dirt road enroute to Konoha stood none other than Orochimaru. Last Naruto had run into the scaled bastard had been when he was fifteen, claiming ownership of Sasuke. Standing next to him was Kabuto who customarily pushed his glasses up as if to get a better view.

Naruto could see some surprise register in those pitch-black orbs. He also found insane glee in the snake sannin's eyes. Slowly, the blonde sent out his senses, hoping to find Sasuke. There. Somewhere in the forest Uchiha Sasuke was watching just like the last time. Instinctively he slowly moved near to his former sensei and his students.

"Kakashi, take them with you and run for your life back to Konoha."

Kakashi was about to protest when a swift gesture from Naruto's hand silenced him. "Just do it."

The grey haired Jounin sighed. He couldn't argue against Naruto. Not for once Naruto was right. When it came to power Naruto had surpassed him- not a surprise given that he had trained under two Sannins. Even without the Kyuubi's power to give him the advantage, Naruto had more power than any of other shinobi in Konoha. Plus he had the blood of Yondaime and the Heiress of the Kazama family running in his veins.

Team Seven knew better to protest in a situation such as this. They hated the fact that they had to flee from the scene, leaving behind their teacher. Though he had been rather cool toward them; they could see that he cared.

They didn't look back as they fled for their lives.

"You've taken everything away from everybody that I have ever come to care about." Naruto said coldly, boring his icy blue eyes into sickly yellow-green ones.

An amused chuckle came from the Sannin's mouth. "I never thought that you of all people would be his son. Tell me how does it feel to know that your own father enslaved you to a demon?"

"Says the jealous brother in law who awoke the Ninetails as revenge against Konoha." Naruto replied as he reached into his sleeves, immediately pulling out a wide array of three bladed kunai with ebony handles and white painted kanji that spelled out death on them. At the end of the handles were blood red tassels.

Neither party moved for quite some time, then all of a sudden at the fall of a dark green leaf, Naruto flung the kunai as Orochimaru and Kabuto dodged only to find themselves face to face with the blonde as he began to attack them mercilessly. He heard cursing coming from Kabuto's mouth as he slammed a kunai into the white haired man's arm before ripping it out with the tussled end. He gracefully avoided a blow from the serpent Sannin as he vanished.

Orochimaru hissed in irritation as he lost sight of the blonde only to hear Kabuto being beaten mercilessly. He swiftly glanced at the forest where Sasuke was watching. The Sannin barely had any time to block a blow from the son of Yondaime as he leaped back. Last time the boy had unleashed the powers of the Fox Demon, showing Orochimaru just how powerful an asset the blonde could be to him. To think that he would have nearly limitless power to do whatever jutsu he wished without any strain. Perhaps he could even sacrifice that much chakra to obtain an immortal body for his immortal soul.

Last time he hadn't been careful. Now- he had a chance to end the pestilence that was the spawn of his younger brother in law, gain unlimited power that even Uchiha Itachi craved and spit on Arashi's grave. All in all he could achieve his revenge through none other than the blonde. It didn't matter that he didn't possess the Sharingan- he had already used it to its limits finding it rather disappointing as well as unstable to use.

He knew his limits and could feel that even in the current body he resided in he would either have to summon Manda or admit that Naruto had become quite powerful- a trait that Orochimaru didn't mind in the least because he would make that power his alone. Grinning madly he enlongated his limbs, allowing the blonde to stab him with a kunai before proceeding to wrap around him.

"You have gotten much more powerful without the demon inside of you." He said silkily in Naruto's ear. "Powerful enough to even know how to use Hiraishin no Jutsu."

Naruto's right foot twitched, activating a mechanism causing a paper-thin blade to pop out from the heel of his sandal as he kicked despite the lack of mobility. However it was enough to make the man losen his body bind as Naruto flipped out of the way. He would have to fight in close combat given that the man had pulled his freaky body jutsu out of the hat so to speak.

"Of course I would know it." Naruto intoned carefully as he readied for the next attack. "It runs in the family." He finished as he made his way out of danger from Kabuto's sudden attack. So much for close combat with the snake. He would have to put the four-eyed freak out of commission.

He turned on his foot knowing that presenting his back to the Sannin equalled insured death. Pulling a kunai out from a sleeve he rammed in into Kabuto's back with all his might as he then vaulted over the white haired man to escape the serpentine limbs. Naruto didn't pause for a moment as he kept dodging from the hands and tongue.

Eyeing the forest, he grimly smiled as he headed toward the wooded area, hearing Orochimaru pursuing him. At least the man wasn't chasing after him with his limbs...

Suddenly he jumped up from his position without a break as a note exploded in the area he had occupied moments before. Landing on a branch, he spared a swift glance up to see none other than Uchiha Sasuke. Today was definitely not his day.

Kakashi landed heavily next to the genins once he felt that they were far enough out of harm's way. He straightened to see the children looking rather rebellious. He sighed. At least Konoha's spirit still lived on in them.

"Why the hell did we run away!" Saaya fumed pointing her finger at the direction that they had just come from. "I can't believe that we just left our sensei behind!"

Light green eyes belonging to Kaname were sharp as any shinobi's kunai. As for Yasuhiro, he only gazed hard at a distant tree.

An exhausted sigh escaped Kakashi's lips as he looked down at the three children, reminded so strongly of how his teams used to be so long ago. They were truly the spirit of Team Seven before things went wrong. History...would there be no escape to it?

"You nor I would have the strength or the power to overcome Kazama Orochimaru. As for your teacher...he's the closest to actually coming out alive from the encounter. He's done it plenty of times over his life."

Three sets of eyes locked on his. He could clearly see the shock showing through as well as fear.

"Kazama Orochimaru...That's his full name?" Yasuhiro asked hoarsely.

Everybody knew of Orochimaru's defection. Hell everybody had learned of his name all throughout their Academy years, yet never had anyone once ever learned that Orochimaru's surname was Kazama, the top of the Four Houses of Konoha. One had to be nearly invincible to even come away alive from the encounter.

"Yes." Kakashi said softly. "It's never been released because the Kazamas had divorced themselves of him when he had been quite young. They had been right to do so. Your sensei has a slight advantage over other Jounins in that he too is from the same clan though he might not look like it."

"That doesn't matter. Who will bring him back if he's defeated?" Saaya demanded. "We're his team and you're his comrade, we should at least go back. So be it if we die, at least we'll die together as a team."

Blue eyes gazed into blood red ones with their god forsaken commas. He could see no malice or any other emotion. Instead he could see a void of where the soul should have been. Understanding dawned onto him. Sasuke's mind must have been locked away by the cursed seal, leaving nothing more than a living puppet, directed by the will of the one who placed the curse on him.

"So, how do you like my Uchiha?"

Naruto didn't turn around. Instead his gaze narrowed as he quashed all feelings of pain down at the sight before him.

"As I've said before. He's not yours for he's not a thing but a living being. Then again you've used humans as lab rats, there's not a single drop of compassion in you. Little wonder why you were excommunicated from the clan."

"You've certainly done your homework."

His right hand twitched. "It's common knowledge within ANBU. What makes this much worse is that I've realized that we're related." With that he turned launched himself off of the branch toward the red-eyed Sasuke.

Before the dark haired Uchiha could do anything, Naruto dropped down from the tree to hit the soft, spongy, moss covered ground. He heard faint cursing from above as he swiftly navigated the forest floor. The forest then abruptly gave way to a cliff, which led down to a winding river down below. Naruto cursed his luck as he searched for a way out of the situation when like a bat swooping down, Sasuke landed in front of him with his blood red eyes boring holes into Naruto's eyes which widened. The black commas were spinning at an unnaturally fast rate.

"Mangekyou." He whispered as he gazed back into the three bladed eyes.

AN: Wheh. I'm totally done with this chapter. And if you've noticed- it's significantly longer. (14 PAGES IN 12 FONT) :) PLEASE LEAVE ME A REVIEW. I need to sharpen my skills as a writer- so point away.

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	5. Chapter 5

AN: In dire need of reviewers to point out mistakes and discrepancies along with opinions on the fic.

Kurokawa: Black River

Chapter Five:

Naruto's world inverted into a pool of blackness with blood red backlighting. He found himself suspended against something which held him up from the black water, which rippled then blew apart to reveal Uchiha Sasuke in all of his dark glory with Orochimaru's sinister laughter. In those deathly pale hands, Naruto noticed that they grasped a katana. Reports had mentioned the katana in the inescapable genjutsu and its time limit. Pain assaulted his senses as he stared wide eyed into the blank eyes. Blood welled up behind his throat as he tried to keep in a cry as the paper thin blade cruelly exited from his body, dripping his life's essence carelessly into the ink black 'water.' Naruto forced the metallic liquid back down his throat.

Gazing at the empty shell of Uchiha Sasuke, a dark chuckle escaped Naruto's mouth. He had always liked ironic situations. The mirth died down to become sorrow as the katana once again plunged into his body. How far the fair had fallen...

"I had once believed that we stood in similar situations standing on the precipice of lonliness and stewing in our own feelings of gulit and anger. You're not Uchiha Sasuke but a mere shadow that not even Itachi would glance at." Naruto rapsed out as he stared directly into the gem-like eyes of the soulless puppet. He saw a flash of awareness appear then vanish. At least Itachi's name could arouse something...

"You have once said that you wanted to return your clan to life but you've completely forgotten about the people that you've left behind in order to pursue revenge. Orochimaru never intended to give you power in the beginning. I'll tell you why- Deep down inside, his thirst could only be sated by taking over Konoha. You're just a means to an end and even then you're left behind, unable to extract your revenge."

He watched as the emptiness slowly vanished to be replaced by sharp awareness with unadulterated anger.

Naruto glanced down at the katana jammed up to its hilt in his abdomen with a faint morbid fascination.

"You-know-nothing!" Sasuke growled; his voice raw with disuse.

Ignoring the fact that he was bleeding, Naruto violently tugged against his binds, listening to the satisfying snaps as he grabbed the hilt of the katana. His eyes were blind to Sasuke's look of bewilderment. With a mighty tug, he pulled it free as he dropped to one knee, tossing the katana as far as he could with as much strength he could muster at the moment.

Shakily he rose, his hand over his wounds. His head was still bowed, burdened with too much pain to lift at the moment to gaze at the Uchiha.

"Oh shut up." Naruto spat contemptuously. "You're not the only one to have lost your family. You never stopped once to think about the reasons why I was an orphan. The man you went to is the very same one who caused the massacre of many families- mine included."

The acceptance of the fact and the years born of silent suffering reared up, fueling Naruto with renewed strength.

"I promised to bring you back regardless of consequences. This is no longer about our long dead friendship." He finished as his head snapped up.

Sasuke's hold of the genjutsu lifted as the imaginary world shattered to reveal the forest and cliff. He stepped back in horror at the sight before him.

Deep burgandy colored eyes with silver white blades were slowing down and separating into commas. Three in each eye. Despite its purplish tone in normally blood red irises and silver-white marks, Sasuke couldn't deny what he saw...It was the Sharingan. Only a Mangekyou could defeat another.

Both started at a sinewy voice.

"This is quite a pleasant surprise. There had been a possibility but I never thought it would happen in a person with quarter Uchiha blood. I'm quite lucky that I'll now be able to inhabit such a perfect body."

Naruto's hand suddenly went to the junction between his neck and shoulder. It would explain why the world seemed so much clear and the extreme pain.

"You don't look so good right now." A semi-amused voice said behind Naruto.

"Considering that I've been better- I'll have to agree. I take it that the kids are watching from afar?"

Kakashi nodded with a sigh as he drew out a kunai. "Yes."

From a hoslter in his right arm, Naruto drew out his special kunai. "Let's do this. You take on Sasuke- I'll go for the serpent." Naruto then vanished as Kakashi flipped up his hitai-ate, revealing his Sharingan.

(break)

High above, in the cover of tall trees, Team Seven watched the precarious fight between the four shinobi. Kakashi hadn't been kidding when he said that of all the people that he knew that their sensei could hold his own against the serpentine man with lavender rope tied around his waist. The only other people who could also hold their own against a Sannin would have to be the other two Sannin in Konoha.

Yasuhiro stared at the fast paced battle. He had seen the dark haired man fighting Uzumaki-sensei whenever he had been near the blonde haired man, which was rare. As for the man that Kakashi had taken on; Yasuhiro couldn't help but shiver. Even a near blind man could see the similarities in looks save for a few subtle differences if one ever took the time to look closely. A name swam up from the depths of his mind.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Kaname and Saaya glanced at their team mate quizzically. Yasuhiro had been prone to odd moments from the rather upstart Sato 'bloodline limit.' Uchiha Sasuke was a name that they grew up learning at dinner tables when their parents' friends came over to reminisce over the old times. Sometimes they heard of the Sound and Sand War that involved Uchiha Sasuke- the last of the Uchihas before his infamous defection. Names of his team mates were never released. However, they could see that the way that Uzumaki-sensei and Kakashi were fighting, the battle had nothing to do with village loyalty but something more.

Rather suddenly, the sound of thousands of birds filled the air as a mass of blue lightening formed in the Uchiha's hands. Team Seven watched as Kakashi did the same thing. Both shinobi rushed forward, thrusting the same jutsus at each other that caused an explosion. At the same time there was a louder one coming from a ways away where Uzumaki-sensei and the dark haired man were battling. Three jaws dropped at the sight towering up from the bottom of the canyon where the cliffs dropped into.

As children they had heard of the greater summons of the legendary Sannin- the Toad, Snake and Slug. Rising over the forested area was Manda the Queen of Snakes facing Gamabunta of the Toads, his familiar pipe sticking out of his mouth. They could do nothing but watch in horror as the serpent shot forward and struck the toad.

(break)

Though Sasuke may have had youth on his side, Kakashi had experience on his as he made sure that his Chidori had more power than Sasuke's. Within mere moments he stood over the unconscious body of his former student. Hoisting the body over his shoulder he made his way to Team Seven's hiding spot only to see the gigantic forms of Manda and Gamabunta duking it out with each other. Their movements caused earthquakes and leveled some of the vast forest. From his vantage point, he could see that the Toad had some difficulty given he had no natural weapons such as fangs or claws despite his possession of a weapon. It was also apparent that Manda, like Orochimaru had the pesky reach advantage.

What happened next in the battle of the behemoths could be described as momentous. The Toad suddenly was surrounded by a large column of smoke. When the winds pushed back the smoke, it revealed a bright red nine tailed fox pinning the serpent down as a flash of yellow made its way toward the submissive serpent's head. With a sickening rip, the fox had torn the serpent's tail. Manda gave off a loud hiss of pain as she disappeared, leaving the human plane to return to her own to lick her wounds. At her disappearance, both shinobi that had been on her, plummeted toward the bottom of the canyon when within moments both of them climbed up the side of the cliffs to level ground.

Like Manda, the transformed Toad left in a loud pop. Kakashi could surmise that Naruto had dismissed the summons. His single dark eye returned to the fight between Orochimaru and Naruto to see a column of poison green smoke. A grey brow rose when he felt the presence of the blonde next to him sporting a few wounds.

"Come on, we need to get out of here. Now."

Together Team Seven and Kakashi with an unconscious Sasuke fled from the scene as fast as they could knowing well that they would have to put distance between themselves and Orochimaru. They fled for two hours non stop when Naruto confirmed that they were in Fire Country. He had felt a little light headed from the blood loss which no doubt became worse with the running he had to do.

As gracefully as he could, he took a seat on top of a large rock as he stilled his beating heart before he closed his eyes, willing them to return to normal. The enhanced vision gave him a headache that he doubted would become better with his heavy bleeding. A few moments went on where he sat, his eyes squeezed shut when he heard shifting.

Slowly he opened his eyes to see Kakashi binding the unconscious Uchiha and putting on a exploding note that activated when one attempted to peel it off. Turning his gaze away from his former sensei he met three pairs of eyes that solemnly gazed back at him.

"I've been through worse." He said calmly.

With that, he reached into a pouch hidden beneath his tattered clothes and pulled out a wooden bird with a few symbols carved on its belly. A few hand seals later, a hawk flew away with a message to tell to the Hokage.

(break)

"Get all medical personnel at the borders of Fire Country right now!" Tsunade snapped as her two ANBU guards left the room swiftly to relay the message.

Hyuuga Neji turned his white eyes to the fuming woman.

"May I have permission to go as well? There's a possibility that they might be attacked by renegades." He said solemnly.

Light brown eyes focused on him for a moment before softening. "Yes you have my permission. I also want you to take over Uchiha Sasuke when you return. We need to interrogate him and hand him a fitting punishment."

The long haired man bowed before he left the office at a brisk pace.

Standing near Tsunade's desk, Jiraiya watched out the window as a group of medic nins including a certain pink haired woman rushed out of the hospital toward the north gate of the village. "The situation has gotten out of hand. Never in a million years have I thought that Orochimaru would do something like this." He muttered.

"Theoretically speaking, it's rather appropriate in Orochimaru's case, as sick and twisted as it sounds. Naruto is his grand-nephew and head of the Kazama clan. His father was the Hokage and holds a grudge for being excommunicated since he's a bastard from an affair between his father and a woman from Grass. By marking Naruto as his next body- he's gained everything that has been denied to him all his life." Tsunade said as she remembered the brooding boy that had been Kazama Orochimaru.

Everyday the girls flocked the dark haired boy with pale skin who sat in the back reading from a book or a scroll. Tsunade had found him odd but then again all Kazamas were odd by definition. Yet she knew that his eccentricity didn't only come from the Kazama family but also from his mother who had been the mistress of the Head of the clan. It was uncommon for something of the sort to happen given that it was a shinobi clan, especially one such as the Kazama. Being the Head of the Ruling Houses subjected them to assassinations and assassination attempts leaving them more than wary...especially the Main branch that preferred having their own inherit the 'throne' rather than a relative from the Lesser branch, though they didn't share the same hatred that the Hyuugas shared between their branches.

She felt pity toward the boy. It wasn't his fault that he had been the by product of an affair. Daily she would often see the dark haired boy be at the mercy of the Kazamas and other shinobi rooted clans when he walked home with his mother. The whispers of his conception always followed.

To make matters worse the Head did nothing about it. Despite his treatment, Tsunade never heard him complain about it- focusing his attention in his studies at the academy soon outshining his older half-brother. The Academy teachers, often unbiased and unaffiliated to an old shinobi rooted clan doted on him for his genius and reserved personality. Civilians took a liking to him whenever he helped an injured child or gave a crying child some candy with a few kind words.

As he grew older he changed a little, taking on an edge to his normally silent personality.

What they had taken for granted had been the immense pain he felt to be driven to the wrong side of the path in life. Underneath those kind gestures was pain that had evolved into anger and hatred. He had allowed himself to be consumed by his hatred toward the Kazamas.

The damning part had been the fact that they did nothing to see him for who he really was.

"The danger is even greater than Uchiha Sasuke and Naruto being the last Kazama."

Jiraiya blinked in confusion. "How so?"

"Because if you think about it for quite some time- Orochimaru and Naruto are rather similiar. They both share a similar childhood of lonliness, despair, hatred, anger and persecution. Orochimaru gave up trying to prove himself to others and Naruto has his limits even though he rarely shows them to others. He will play on Naruto's childhood to get him to break."

A colorful curse left Jiraiya's mouth that could have burned even the most hardened of sailor's ears.

(break)

From the top of a tree in Lightening Country, twin pairs of dull red eyes surveyed the destruction. There was a low whistle of appreciation. No jutsu save for greater summons could cause so much destruction.

"This place smells of foxes and snakes. Samehada confirms that the brat had been here."

Ten years...Only two more Jinchuuriki needed to be contained. Frustratingly enough, they were the most protected of the nine. The two bijuu were in nations allied to each other, adding a headache factor to the whole problem. Itachi hated complications in plans, especially when the plan was so close in coming into fruition.

Uchiha Itachi jumped down from his perch onto the dusty road and followed it toward Fire Country.

(break)

A team of medic nins descended upon Team Seven, Kakashi and Uchiha Sasuke an hour since they stopped to rest. Saaya ended up slapping away a male medic nin and pointing him to the direction of Uzumaki-sensei while her team mates watched in amusement.

Joining the medic nins who had surrounded Naruto, Hyuuga Neji pulled off his mask, his Byakugan activated. Naruto's chakra points weren't too disturbed as he had feared but he could see a small disruption near the blonde haired man's neck and shoulder area where the cursed seal resided.

"It's been a while since you've sustained major injuries." Neji said lightly as he gazed down at Naruto who only shrugged as a medic nin pulled his arm from a sleeve to administer to several deep gashes. Neji saw that the blonde wasn't focused on him and turned to see what caught the blonde's attention. Ah. Sakura. That would explain some things.

"What is she doing here?"

Neji knew that it wasn't a question. "She heard that you were injured and came, though it's a surprise that you came out of that encounter fairly unscathed considering that-"

"I know what you mean." Naruto cut in as he allowed a couple more medics to examine the cursed seal with probing fingers. Neji could hear the sharp edge to the normally calm voice.

"You said that she was a friend but you lied- she's more than that to you."

Black ink began to crawl until they formed a ring around the strange looking cursed seal that was the combination of the heaven and earth seals. They turned blood red.

Naruto ran a hand through his hair as he glanced up to his dark haired friend. "I had no right to cause any disruptions amongst others with my problems- Sakura will need her memories or information about my illness erased when we get back."

White eyes gazed back into icy blue ones in surprise. "Surely you wouldn't. Doesn't she have the right to know?" Neji asked pointedly.

"Maybe, but I would rather that she doesn't."

"What if I said that the Hokage had been the one to 'break' the news to her?"

Neji watched as Naruto froze then relax however he saw that Naruto didn't like the fact. He could go as far as to say that Naruto down right loathed it. He never imagined there would be bad blood between the pink haired woman and the blonde. All throughout their early teen years and childhood the whole village knew that Sakura could do no wrong toward Naruto.

It seemed they had thought wrong.

"For all it's worth Naruto- you've brought back a friend."

A soft snort escaped from Naruto. Neji knew better than to comment as he patiently waited for the reason behind Naruto's sudden snort. It didn't take long.

"Friend? Never. It took me this long to realize that he's dead and that I killed him."

In a poetic sense what Naruto said made perfect sense to Neji. Naruto murdered all feelings of comradeship, friendship, and brotherhood with the Uchiha, leaving only a stranger in his eyes. A stranger worthy of contempt.

(break)

Haruno Sakura had stayed back from the hustle and bustle, watching the medic nins descend upon Naruto and the prone form of the one and only Uchiha Sasuke. She had seen that he hadn't changed much over the years- physically. Her eyes strayed from her childhood crush to land on Naruto's stiff form sitting on a rock as the medic nins went about healing his various injuries. Her green eyes widened when they took off the top part of his yukata to reveal a rather large cursed seal on his right shoulder.

Having seen Sasuke's seal- the Heaven seal she couldn't help but shudder at the sight of the combined Heaven and Earth seal surrounding a swirl that was part of the village's symbol.

"Sakura."

She turned around to find herself gazing up at her former sensei looking down her with weariness.

"Hi sensei." Sakura said as she gazed at her hands. For the first time in thirteen years the shattered Team Seven had been reunited and she couldn't help but feel apprehensive as well as worry.

"I thought that you had gotten over your crush." Kakashi said lazily.

Sakura looked away, her face blazing out of embarrassment and shame.

"It would seem that you haven't at all."

She couldn't say anything as he walked toward Naruto who had pinned her with an icy blue gaze that bore into her soul. Then slowly, his stoic face (a rather alien concept to her) dropped to a deep frown and he looked away to take a fresh yukata from Kakashi who had managed to pull one out of a summon scroll that Naruto handed him.

The blonde took the yukata and slipped it over his ruined one.

Sakura couldn't help but wince at the symbolic meaning of the whole gesture.

(break)

From the darkness came bright light.

Sasuke suddenly woke up to find moonlight filtering through the window. He sat up. Or at least tried.

He slammed back down against the bed and turned to see that he had been restrained to the bed with various techniques that included: chains, leather straps and nasty exploding notes.

Oh right.

Kakashi had knocked him out with a slightly more powerful Chidori. A dark curse left Sasuke's mouth as he glared up at the ceiling knowing well enough that he was most likely inside of Konoha. No use trying to fight against his restraints when the exploding notes would turn him into shredded beef.

"You're up."

He glanced to his left to find something meld from the shadows, revealing itself in the moonlight. Sasuke's eyes met glowing blue ones. A shiver ran up his spine unbidden at the memory of dark burgandy and sliver. Uzumaki Naruto.

The years have transformed the blonde. Now that they weren't in battle killing each other, Sasuke could see that the thirteen years haven't been kind to Naruto. He could see it in the coldness of those brilliant blue eyes. The old, sunshine and bright Naruto vanished leaving behind a calm man who seemed much more in the black yukata and haori outfit.

"Yes I am." Sasuke had held himself back from calling the blonde 'dobe.' It no longer seemed appropriate nor did it sound like the type of thing he wanted to do with Naruto's face as impassive as a statue's.

"Then rest."

With that, Naruto had vanished into the darkness of the night without so much as a whisper to tell of his departure. Sasuke closed his eyes. He could only see blood and scattered cherry blossoms.

Naruto had the Mangekyou Sharingan; and Sasuke knew more than anything that he was dead to the blonde.

(break)

"By the decision of the Elders and the Houses, Uchiha Sasuke is under house arrest and from here on will no longer be a shinobi. His title and rights to the Head position of the Uchiha House is stripped from him until further notice..."

Naruto could hear the anger in Tsunade's voice underneath the facade of calm.

He personally didn't blame her for her anger. By all means a traitor by law was executed. The Elders and the Houses had made an exception to Uchiha Sasuke's case given that he was the last of the Uchiha bloodline. From where he sat he could see the villagers' wariness of the dark haired man standing before them.

They had given him everything from kindness to praise. Of course they would still harbor some disdain toward the dark haired man yet Naruto knew better. They would remember the Uchiha Massacre and push the treason aside to heap pity onto him. Naruto could have cared less any longer.

The man wasn't his problem anymore.

Once the formal announcement had finished, Naruto rose in unison with the other clan Heads. He straightened the sleeves of his haori as he left the section to make his way toward the Kazama compound. It had been a week since his unplanned retrival of Uchiha Sasuke and the Heads had found it rather appropriate to dump his Clan duties upon him earlier since he had managed to snag the 'original' to keep the nearly extinct line 'alive.'

Despite the original's return, Naruto still made it his mission to bring out the Sharingan in Yasuhiro.

"Naruto-sama."

He turned to find a chuunin standing in front of him nervously.

"Yes?"

"Hokage-sama wishes to see you in her office right away."

Naruto nodded to the chuunin as he changed directions to head toward the Hokage Tower. Upon his arrival he gave a few curt nods to those who hailed him as he swiftly climbed the stairs to the top floor. Seeing the familiar wood door closed he knew that Tsunade wanted him in for more than just a small chat.

The two shinobi flanking the door gave him nodded to him. He refrained from frowning as he rapped on the door three times.

"Come in."

He turned the knob of the door and entered to find Jiraiya leaning against Tsunade's desk- a common sight these days given that the perverted Sannin preferred her company. Or so he said. The door closed with a soft click behind him as he stood to attention.

Tsunade held up a book then put it on the desk.

"You've done the impossible." She said.

Blue eyes gazed at the cover of the book and saw Uchiha Sasuke's name on it. The interrogation.

"Somehow you managed to awaken the Sharingan."

Jiraiya's dark eyes bore into Naruto's.

"Not only the Sharingan but also the Mangekyou." He said solemnly.

Ah. That. Naruto let himself relax some of his stiffness. "To attain the Mangekyou, one has to kill their best friend...however one doesn't have to do it literally."

Understanding dawned in Tsunade's eyes at Naruto's words. Odd...yet made plenty of sense. Many philosophers had spoken that in order for a child to grow up, they had to kill their parents- in a spiritual or mental sense. Sometimes they even did it literally.

In Naruto's case- he had killed his ties to Sasuke and alienated himself from the Uchiha. Though Uchiha Sasuke still physically lived, all hopes of attaining any sense of friendship- even kinship would never happen. Naruto didn't have the capabilities of caring for the last Uchiha.

This kind of mind set made it theoretically possible for any Uchiha to achieve the Mangekyou without having to physically kill their best friends. Having proven that the theory could become reality, Naruto put a new spin to the evolution of the doujutsu.

"So you're saying that even though Sasuke is still living and breathing, to you Uchiha Sasuke is just a man who betrayed his village."

Naruto nodded. "Nothing more, nothing less."

That said, he turned on his heel and left the office.

Outside, Naruto took a look at the setting sun as he shook his head and made his way back to the Kazama sector of Konoha. Though equal in size with the other three Ruling Houses, the Kazama sector embraced traditions of ages past. Inside one could find a few oddities here and there which spoke of lands outside of the shinobi continent.

He finally entered a large compound where the Main family once resided. He slid back a door to reveal the whole area filled with the warm glow of the dying sunlight as night slowly approached. His footsteps carried him through halls until he reached his room furnished with a few things from his apartment. The furniture had been left behind because they clashed with the traditional setting of the compound.

In an ungainly manner, Naruto flopped onto his futon to stare at the ceiling crawling with shadows. He watched them dance to the wind outside, reminding him of a shadow puppet play that he once saw during a few weeks stay in Suna. Ramayana it was called.

The story held enticing beauty as well as sorrow.

Whirling, the shadows danced then flickered like dying flames.

Blue eyes closed. Unlike Ramayana, there would be no definite resolution.

(break)

A finger viciously probed and Sasuke couldn't help but wince. That one had been filled with chakra.

"Sit still for once."

He knew better than to argue with a woman who could easily kill him in this state...bound by various seals courtesy of Naruto.

There was one that contained his cursed seal, another that bound him to the village, one that would cause him to be hamburger meat if so much as tried to sell out Konoha and another on his doujutsu and screwed with it to some degree. He could use the Sharingan but had been told that the mental wackiness that came with it would no longer affect him.

'You don't have the right to do the third seal.' Sasuke said as he glanced at the blonde who held an inked brush with casualness.

'From your reports...there are indications of mental stress along with damage from over extensive use of the doujutsu.' Came the level reply. 'I have complete jurisdiction over all sealing techniques in this village.'

In other words it meant that he wasn't going to take any precautionary chances as well as use his position to his advantage.

'Then what about you?'

'As a precautionary I also have one though it really isn't necessary.' With that, he left as Sasuke felt the biting text sear into his flesh.

"So did you ever regret leaving?"

Sasuke pulled himself out of his thoughts as he glared out the window with determination as another finger cruelly probed his skin. Sakura was definitely itching to kill him here and now. "No."

His reply didn't really surprise her. It had been thirteen years since he had last come back to Konoha. She roughly tossed him his shirt. Naruto hadn't done anything in terms of lashing out against the dark haired man. Then again, Naruto had changed over the thirteen years. Nobody noticed because in essence, they didn't have time to care. So when Naruto vanished- they never quite noticed until too late.

"I know that you've noticed that Naruto has changed a lot, but keep in mind that you shouldn't do anything stupid around him."

Sasuke remembered a bit of conversation that Naruto had with Orochimaru. 'Says the jealous brother in law who awoke the Nine tails as revenge against Konoha.'

The phrase seemed strange- foreign even but one thing he knew was that Naruto shared a common ancestry to the serpentine Sannin, which raised quite a number of questions.

"You don't say? Since when has he worn formal clothing?"

Green eyes bore into black ones with anger, sorrow and pain. "I don't know. It's not like he's been seeing the much of anybody in nine years save for Hyuuga Neji and Hyuuga Hinata. However I do know that he's the Head of the Kazama clan." She said quietly.

Sasuke's widened slightly. That would explain some things.

Years ago before the massacre of the Uchiha family, Itachi had told him the history of the Four Ruling Houses and their positions. Of all the houses mentioned, Itachi only had respect for the Kazama. He would refer to them as the greatest of all the Houses.

'Keep in mind Sasuke-kun, the Kazamas are the greatest of the Four Clans of Konoha. Though they don't possess any bloodline limits like the Sarutobi, they have skills in other areas that surpass that of the other Houses.'

Never in a million years had he thought that Naruto would be the legacy of the most powerful clan in Konoha- despite Hyuuga's claims of being the strongest.

To make matters worse, Naruto was his cousin of all things.

He never heard the door closing shut behind him.

(break)

_Snow swirled in a never ending dance as clouds formed once the heated breath left his mouth, lingering for a few seconds before fading away. _

_The cold bit into him, piercing his soul as he gazed out at the crowd of people glaring at him hatefully; the children were laughing at him. Who could have imagined the coldness in those eyes that had earlier been filled with such love and care? How could one achieve such polar opposites in a matter of seconds? _

_'How dare you hurt my baby!' One woman cried out huddling the boy next to her, though Naruto could see the malicious smile. _

_Hatred could almost take corpreal form from the crowd in front of him. A part of him screamed at the unfairness of the world where another voiced that the world had never been fair. _

_Naruto turned away from the crowd from his memories as he caught sight of a boy with long black hair and deathly pale skin skirt away from glares from almost simliarly looking people in the streets...in the afternoon of a clear day. He could tell that they weren't Hyuuga or Uchihas from their eyes and clothes, but their physical features were close to the other two clans. _

_He never remembered a memory like this..._

_"Move out of the way." _

_The boy bowed though Naruto could see that once the man passed, the impassive face twisted into a sad frown. Naruto followed the boy as he continued his way through Konoha. Or at least it seemed to be given that the hitai-ates were the same...Wait- something was off. _

_It dawned to Naruto that what he was seeing must have been with events before his time because the buildings were different as well as the way some of the shinobi dressed. If this wasn't his memory- then whose was it? _

_Blue eyes narrowed as they studied the pale boy enter a small ground level apartment until he stood near an open window. _

_"Welcome back Orochimaru." A female voice said gently. _

_"Good afternoon mother." Came a quiet reply._

_There was a pause. _

_"They were picking on you again weren't they." _

_"It doesn't matter. It's the truth. I am a-"_

_"Don't say that. You're not what they call you. You are yourself Orochimaru and don't forget that I love you." _

_Naruto walked away from the scene. He hadn't been a few steps away when he found himself standing in a graveyard with young Orochimaru who seemed about five or six at the time staring down at the freshly dug earth where Naruto was sure that the coffin lay. Nobody else was around. He turned when he heard the sound of pattering feet come up to the grave. _

_He watched as men with long dark hair and pale complexion come up to the boy with disgust on their faces. "So the bitch up and died." _

_A flare of anger ignited in amber colored eyes. Eyes that were human before they became serpentine and filled with evil. Naruto had to admit that the young Orochimaru had will power to keep his mouth closed. However he could see the hands curl into fists that shook. _

_"Thank the gods on high that a bastard like yourself will never be next in line for the Headship, let alone be in the clan. Be thankful that your father had been kind enough to let you live with the Kazama name." _

_They turned and calmly left the cemetery leaving behind Orochimaru who only gazed down at his mother's grave, standing in the rain. Naruto watched as he finally stirred to pull out a hitai-ate from his shirt and put it on the gravestone. From where he stood, Naruto could barely make out the Grass village symbol on it. _

_Not too far away in the distance, Naruto could hear the glass mirror crack in that boy's resolve, causing him to become the dark man of today. A great yet terrible man bent on anger that had been created by the very same clan he had come from._

_Orochimaru's resolve had broken at an early age. Naruto's had been battered yet still stood because he had saved himself. _

(break)

_'Isn't the cherry blossom beautiful? Death should be just as beautiful.'_

_A flash of yellow. Serious blue eyes gazed up as the wind ruffled clothes as white as bone. Pink lips were graced with a neutral smile._

_'To lose everything you care about...it's the most painful feeling in the world.'_

_Amber brown eyes peered backwards at a flame colored maple tree. _

_'I know only myself.'_

_Black hair fluttered in the wind. Pale skin shone in the bright sunlight._

_Blood red threads glistened connecting to many people like spokes in a wheel. Some of those people seemed to hold many threads to others. Destinies entwined to create a tapestry of the world. _

_In the center stood one man holding threads that overflowed from his long slender fingers in a gesture of extreme burden. Yasuhiro couldn't help but look to see the people who had threads tied to none other than that man. The people ranged from Konoha to other places all over the world- to places he had never seen or heard. He even saw his team tied to the man._

_Yasuhiro glanced up to see a large shadow standing behind the man with more threads spilling out of its maw. His eyes widened when blue eyes tore their gaze from the ground to gaze into his. _

_The man...His eyes..._

_All the people vanished with their red threads, leaving only the man with the shadow. Eventually the shadow too vanished. _

_"Chihaya!"_

_Behind him, Yasuhiro heard a female's voice call out. He turned to find a woman running toward the man's direction as the darkness became blue skies and tall grass. He turned to see the man slowly making his way toward the running female. White hair ruffled in the slow breeze, swaying the heads of the tall grass and wild flowers. _

_Panting the black haired woman stopped as she smiled up at the white haired, blue eyed man. Her expression turned to horror. Slowly the man turned. Cracks broke through the air. The dark haired woman fell to the ground, her eyes wide in shock. Life swiftly faded. _

_There were discordant chops as the wind picked up every which way, making Chihaya's white clothes pull and sway as a large flying machine landed in the field. Men (Yasuhiro could only presume that they were.) jumped out of the strange mechanism and came up to the white haired, blue eyed man. They were dressed head to toe in black armor and what seemed to be red lensed goggles with machines called guns in their arms. Uzumaki or rather Kazama-sensei had once brought one out. _

_"Chihaya no Akaitsubasa."_

_"That is no longer my name...The Four Riders shall ride tonight to slaughter the dragon with seven heads for Bablyon has fallen. From their slumber the gods shall rise to judge man, granting him his curse and boon. Technology will no longer run rampant in what is left of this world." He said solemnly as he turned his back to the black clad men. _

At that moment Yasuhiro woke up in cold sweat as he pressed his right hand to his eyes to ward away a headache. What in the world had that been about?

"Yasuhiro! You're going to be late for your meeting with your team mates and sensei!" His mother called from downstairs.

A groan escaped the dark haired boy's lips.

AN: This chapter sucked. There's so many conflicting storylines going in this one that I have a frill'n chart of what's going on. Sad, eh? Alrighty people, review, flame, whatever away. I'm going to go lie down with a few pills to ward away the headache that had been induced by the oh-so-lovely Thomas Mann. Just what the hell was up with the 'ghost party?' Urgh. Okay off to type the next chapter; my problem child in the making.


	6. Chapter 6

Kurokawa

Chapter Six:

Pitch black orbs surveyed the grounds in front of them remembering ghosts of the past. A past he would rather not remember but had no choice but to due to the blonde haired man next to him. Simply put, Uchiha Sasuke couldn't get away even if he wished. Whatever Uzumaki Naruto wanted him to do; he had no choice but to obey. Naruto had him on a short leash through his fuuin. The fact didn't make him angry. On the contrary, Sasuke couldn't feel somewhat miffed by the fact that of all the places that the blonde haired man dragged him to, it was to the abandoned Uchiha sector of the village. Though the blood had long since washed off and the walls repainted and repaired Sasuke would forever see them stained in blood.

'Is he trying to get a rise out of me?' The dark haired man thought as he gazed at the blonde haired man's back when they came to an abrupt stop.

"Revenge." Naruto said as he gazed at the Uchiha crest painted on a whitewashed fence. "It is a feeling that destroys so much and leaves one feeling utterly empty. Your hatred has justifications but not to the extent that it went-"

"Don't lecture me." Naruto cast a calm gaze back at Sasuke who glared at him with narrowed eyes.

Naruto shook his head at the dark haired man's misunderstanding. "I'm not lecturing you Uchiha Sasuke. As I was saying before, you're not the only one who wishes to have revenge. In fact the vast majority of this nation would rather see me dead and buried far beyond six feet under. Then there are many more who see me on the same level as Itachi."

Sasuke's lips curled in a sneer. "You never killed your own family and by God on high you never-" Naruto silenced him with a dismissive wave.

"On the contrary if you sit back and reflect instead of acting on reflexes you will see that there's truth." Blue eyes narrowed on the red above the white part of the fan. "Albeit somewhat twisted. See the broader picture than the one that is in front of your face then you might be able to go somewhere, Uchiha. It is something that can't be taught but rather experienced for oneself."

Riddles. That was all that Sasuke could get out of the blonde. One riddle upon another. Just when he thought that he found out everything there was to Naruto, something new would come up to pull the blonde from any set state. Now it seemed much worse with the blonde actually speaking in riddles in a way that reminded him of Itachi. Always dangling bits of information but never telling the whole story.

Naruto's blue eyes could see the confusion and frustration coming off of the Uchiha but didn't comment. "Good day." He said instead as he walked away from the dark haired man to return to the village.

Checking the position of the sun in the sky, Naruto could see that he had about ten minutes to make it to training ground seven. He closed his eyes as he vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Moments later he appeared in front of his genins who startled then calmed down. There once had been a time when he had done the same thing…but it was in the past, long buried and forgotten. He lived with no bonds to former team mates and the only obligations he felt he should give was to the Hokage, Hyuuga Neji and Hyuuga Hinata. All others were expendable to a degree. Blue eyes sharpened as they ripped the ghostly images of his past into shreds. These children in front of him were not of the past Team Sevens nor did they share the same personalities. History would not repeat.

He allowed himself to soften his gaze when he caught onto their slight unease. Though in the past he once had been good with children, the years of solitude made him rusty from disuse. It didn't help that he preferred to be alone in an ironic way given how in the past he craved for people to touch him. Now he could not for the life of him fathom how to approach these children. Connecting with them proved difficult yet he tried for their sake because he knew that he frightened them as well as made them uneasy. Naruto mentally shook his head.

"Today we'll be going over the basics of lightening jutsus…"

From there the lesson began. These children were intelligent, determined and willing. Such innocence made Naruto wonder just a bit if such a thing were truly possible. In a small way he thanked the deities above for their innocence whereas his generation had lost theirs so early on in life. He never could want them to go through the pain that he and others have gone through. Naruto stared harshly at his right hand. It all began with the demon and all would end with the demon. He couldn't do anything about that fact.

"Yo."

Naruto turned to see Kakashi making his way through the training ground, one hand occupied with the infernal exotic literati of his as Naruto had been supervising his team with their jutsu.

"Kakashi." Naruto returned curtly as his blue eyes made their way to the orange book. "Still reading that piece of shit you call literature." He deadpanned as Kakashi had the grace to look offended.

"Hey, don't go ratting on my book." The grey haired Jounin complained as he put the book away knowing full well that Naruto wouldn't pass up an opportunity to fry his book to a charred lump. It was nice to see that Naruto had opened up somewhat even at the expense of his beloved Icha Icha Paradise.

Almost against his will, Naruto snorted in disbelief. He didn't tolerate men of lesser morals. Women didn't appreciate it since it degraded them to a lower status and Naruto wouldn't dare degrade women to that level. He surmised that Kakashi lacked a girlfriend due to his lack of insight on that part of women's psyche. On the other hand, Naruto had plenty enough time to study people as a child. If one were to hold university level classes in psychology, Naruto would have gotten his PhD without an effort. For now he had to suffice with a highly exceptional grade in the study of the mind during his ANBU training.

Swiftly, Naruto reached over to smack the older man upside the head. "For the morality of the world then yes I would have to rat against even my former teacher's choice of writing. You know very well that I don't tolerate it in my presence."

Kakashi gingerly rubbed his head. That smack happened to hurt.

If one took the time to think on it deeply, they would come to the same conclusion that Kakashi had years before. Naruto was a stiffer stiff than Hyuuga Neji (If that was possible…) on many things. Behavior toward women included. People often wondered how in the world the blonde could be celibate at 25. Though Kakashi never had a girlfriend he was anything but celibate. He happened to enjoy whatever life he could grasp onto like Jiraiya. Even at this point his former sensei the Yondaime had been happily married.

Heck even Uchiha Sasuke had Haruno Sakura. Kakashi's single eye darkened. He knew that Naruto had been by himself since Gods knew when but it didn't give an excuse of him holding his students at arm's length. The grey haired Jounin winced, he was no better. At least Naruto made an attempt despite the awkwardness of the situation.

"So how have you been doing? From what I can tell most of it is grouchy."

Naruto gave his former sensei a humorless grin. "Nightmares. I've been having them of the late. Orochimaru is…persistent to say in the least."

'It's just more than nightmares isn't it Naruto?' Kakashi mentally asked as he watched the blonde haired man's face for anything else besides dark thoughts. He looked up at Naruto in surprise when he felt something pressed into his right hand. Glancing down he noticed that it was a small package.

"My informants have told me that Uchiha Itachi and his partner are here in Konoha. I advise you to see to your former prized pupil, Uchiha Sasuke lest his anger rise again."

Just like that, Naruto had closed up again. Kakashi couldn't make heads or tails of Naruto's nearly bipolar attitude. Opening one moment, clamming up the next. It was nearly synonymous with Sasuke's attitude years before his betrayal. However one thing that kept Naruto from pulling a Sasuke on all of them was his loyalty toward the village. Kakashi wouldn't have blamed Naruto if he suddenly just became sick and tired of putting up with everybody in Konoha and simply up and vanished.

The news of Itachi's sudden re-emergence bothered him. It could only mean that Akatsuki was on the prowl once more for the Jinchuuriki. Kakashi threw an alarmed glance at his former student to see that Naruto's eyes had darkened as he gazed at his practicing students trying to fry each other with lightening jutsus. Worry. Deep down past all the cautious barriers that he had erected, Naruto still cared.

"I will do that." Kakashi said heavily, when he caught sight of a small smile playing on Naruto's lips. He couldn't help but see sorrow in it.

"Thank you."

It had been two hours since Sakura had finished her shift in the hospital and she wanted to see him. Ever since Sasuke's return to Konoha, Naruto hadn't shown himself as much as he used to…which wasn't much at all. Of course that was to be expected. He was rather introverted to begin with in an odd sense. Though he went about creating hell for others depending on how they treated him and such, he never really spoke of his personal problems. With Sasuke it had been easier. At least she knew to a certain degree of what was on his mind despite the fact that it wasn't the best of things to dwell on. Despite that there wasn't much she could do about his mindset. Uchiha Sasuke was stubborn like that.

Naruto on the other hand did have a stubbornness that sometimes went as far as recklessness. Unlike Sasuke on the other hand, he stood much like a mountain. Nothing could move him save for a miracle. Sure he could move other mountains but other people couldn't move his. He had kept the secret of the demon that dwelled in him for a good set of three years before he even thought of telling her because circumstances forced him to. Never had he once told her about it on his own. It hurt yet she understood in a small way that Naruto wasn't one to divulge in his problems.

Tsunade had once had her study psychology to assess certain situations with patients within the hospital. To tell the truth, now that she took the time to actually think about it, Naruto's mindset proved the most dangerous of all the people she had run into. Even Orochimaru for all of his terrible deeds and Uchiha Itachi who grew up in much favored environment, Naruto had nothing but hatred in its purest form. Naruto had kept himself isolated with his loud personality and only now had begun to show signs of what would be his 'truer' face. A face that was barely recognizable.

He stood on a fine line between light and dark so to speak.

Sakura closed her eyes at the sheer depressing truth. Being typically her, she never noticed it until now.

"Yo Sakura-chan."

She looked up to see her former sensei Kakashi wave to her with a smile in his eyes. How that man could be damned convincing with his masks, she would never know but right now she wanted nothing more than to crack that stupid smile off of his face.

"Kakashi." She returned stiffly.

"Come now, no need to be angry." The grey haired Jounin said childishly.

"Maybe I won't be if you'll tell me where Naruto is."

Kakashi sighed as he gave in. "As you wish. He's at training area seven. I suggest that you take it easy though. He's not exactly in the mood to deal with anything that will add to his level of stress. Just a heads up, Itachi is around Konoha and I have to make sure that I keep Sasuke in check."

The pink haired woman nodded as she took her leave.

Thirty minutes later Sakura found Naruto in front of the obsidian monument to the fallen in contemplation. Though she couldn't see his face for his back was turned to her, she noticed that his shoulders were stiff.

"Haruno-san."

God how he sounded so impersonal as if the few years they spent together on Team Seven seemed insignificant in his eyes.

"Naruto I came here to say that I'm sorry." Sakura said softly.

Naruto continued to stare at the monument for a while longer before he spoke. "There's absolutely nothing to be sorry about. If anything else I should be the one apologizing. Now if you'll excuse me I have certain things to attend to." That said he turned around and brushed by Sakura.

"You're going to confront Itachi."

It wasn't a question because she knew what his answer would be.

"Yes."

That said; Naruto vanished in a swirl of leaves. Sakura turned to the monument to see that there was blood on the spot below the last name inscribed on it. Her eyes widened as the implications sank in. If Naruto was going to do what he was going to do then it would mean that it was a suicide mission. Without wasting any time she dashed toward the Hokage Tower.

The wind tugged at Naruto's hair as he faced the man before him in the grass plains outside of Konoha. Years ago he would have felt apprehension at facing the most powerful man on the continent if it weren't for the fact that the feared the darkness in his heart even more. He could still feel the acrid taste of blood in his mouth. Time wouldn't be on his side today.

"Naruto-kun." Uchiha Itachi rasped as his failing eyesight swerved toward Naruto who stared back into scarlet eyes.

Even though Naruto was twenty five years of age he found it somewhat ironic that Itachi would still refer to him as a twelve year old. Perhaps in his eyes Naruto hadn't aged at all. Naruto didn't respond to the dark haired man's greeting. Instead he gave a curt nod.

A semblance of a smile made its way onto Itachi's face. "You're very much like him."

Naruto didn't know whether to take the Uchiha's words as the resemblance belonging to Yondaime or something entirely different. An unbidden thought crossed his mind. Could it be that even though he was blind that his unseeing eyes could make out the merging of chakra coils? Surely not. Only the Hyuuga eyes could see that unbidden occurrence happening. He would place the blame on Itachi's delusions.

In a flash, Naruto blocked an attack from the dark haired man. He could feel Itachi's breath on his ear.

"It's been a while since I could feel the demon's power…Naruto-kun."

Both men pushed away from each other.

From the corner of his mind Naruto felt Kisame's presence. It didn't bother him in the least. Of course being Itachi's partner made the shark-like man seem wary of the battle between two powerhouses. Then again he always did seem wary of Itachi.

As to the dark haired man's delusional sentence, Naruto could only account for the Uchiha's curse of insanity speaking through. That driving hunger to be the best…to surpass all else was a side effect for obtaining the Sharingan in the Hyuuga household. Little wonder why the Hyuugas expelled it when they caught a glimpse of that madness. Of course the Hyuugas were stiff but they weren't made. The Sato family seemed to be a genetic mutation back to a semblance of normalcy where minds were related at the cost of losing the Sharingan or at least making it dormant. If he remembered correctly the slip off had been some time ago and if biology dictated correctly if the Uchihas hadn't cut off that 'defect' then in due time the Sharingan would have been completely erased. Then would it mean that the Hyuuga genes show up once more? He doubted it.

It would seem that bloodlines were much like hybrid gladiolus. If one did not weed out the normal from the hybrid then the plant would revert back the normal strand, killing off whatever mutation it fostered; or at least forced the mutation into a dormant state of sorts and with it the madness.

Ever so slowly the black commas in Itachi's eyes began to move. Surprise, surprise. Itachi never seemed to type to show any sign of impatience. For crying out loud he bid his time before he slaughtered the whole entire clan. Sure it did some good in terms of ridding the village of a festering disease running rampant but at the same time gave rise to a scenario far worse than the destruction of a population of insane people. Before this was over with he would have to thank Itachi for fucking up wonderfully.

Fucking up his life, and just about every life in Konoha. For some strange reason Naruto found himself bitter. If the Uchiha had lived what difference would have it made? Orochimaru would have more candidates to choose from and in the end the results would have been the same…somewhat. At least Naruto would have to deal with fighting somebody else in Akatsuki instead of Itachi. Not that it mattered.

The next attack had Naruto doubled over in pain.

He wasn't stupid enough to let his guard down and had caught the punch. What he didn't anticipate was Itachi's other hand. The dark haired man didn't punch him. Instead he slapped a note on Naruto which began to take effect immediately.

Whatever the hell it was, it certainly didn't feel good. Gritting his teeth in pain he moved his arm down toward the note to find that that ink…blood was moving off the paper and onto him.

Shit.

It was a demon seal. Hah, he should have seen it coming. Just as he reached to the rope around his neck to pull off a counter demon seal with seven points, his cursed seal broke through the barriers he placed it under.

Simply put the pain became excruciating. The intensity enveloped in such an overwhelming force that in brought Naruto down to his knees as he tried to fight the pain. Damn. By containing it he had delayed the reaction of allowing the seal to settle down. He shouldn't have forgotten the little detail that each person who ever felt the effects of the cursed seal had to ride out the first initial stage. Now with the delayed reaction, it had built up much like a stopped faucet would.

A shadow blocked the sunlight. Naruto felt Itachi's eyes on him. Tension hung in the air, nearly tangible when all of a sudden Naruto felt the collar of his shirt yanked aside to expose the cursed seal. He imagined that Itachi could also see the other seals around it.

"Orochimaru."

For the first time Naruto heard Itachi snarl as he backed away.

Trying to keep from crying out in pain, he yanked off the seal and slammed it onto Itachi's foot out of impulse. He wasn't able to feel the shock at the man's display of emotion as overwhelming pain consumed him and all he knew was darkness.

In the dim lighting, Kabuto stared down at the blonde haired man lying on the bed hooked up to medical equipment. He had been somewhat iffy on when to extract Naruto from Konoha given that the blonde would have done something to seal away the cursed seal to a certain extent…doing a much better job than Kakashi's attempt years ago. Ever since he had heard about the vessel for the fox demon he had been intrigued. With healing capabilities that made Naruto almost a god among men, Kabuto couldn't help but want to experiment on a perfect subject.

However the problem was just that.

Naruto wasn't the perfect subject. Or at least what data showed.

After the confrontation between Naruto and Itachi, Orochimaru had brought the blonde back to Sound. Kabuto had run preliminary scans of Naruto's condition to find it disturbing.

'His condition is rather unstable. From what I can see from a medical standpoint Naruto's dying. The regeneration is pulled from his own body rather than the fox's chakra.' He said earlier.

Now that he was re-examining the data from a scientific view, he found little discrepancies in the genetic structure of Naruto's body. He compared it to when the man was twelve and found a huge change in DNA sequencing. It was impossible in the realm of humans but with a demon anything was possible. Though it looked like Naruto was dying, Kabuto witnessed something rather astonishing going on.

In a sense it was true. Years of containing the Kyuubi was changing Naruto's body physically. Kabuto had read theories but he never seen it happen until now. Those theories in fact weren't theories anymore. They were fact.

'However it is curious that there's significant change in genetics from when he was twelve to now. It's theoretically impossible…but with the fox demon…'

Orochimaru's yellow eyes gleamed. 'He'll no longer be strapped to the weak human frame.'

'At this rate the assimilation is nearly complete. It seems that it was inevitable.'

Naruto truly was a scientific wonder in progress though Kabuto know that the road to godhood would be quite painful since in many ways a lot of things were going to be rejected. There was also the slim chance that the blonde might not make the transition well. Even so, Orochimaru still had three guaranteed years of use from Naruto before he had to obtain another body. Yet judging the look on the dark haired man's face, Kabuto could see the hunger from the man to keep this body for an eternity.

Kabuto couldn't blame him.

A world of possibilities lay before them with this body. It was rather ironic that Orochimaru wanted nothing to do with Naruto until now. Besides, this was a victory that Orochimaru could wave in front of Akatsuki for ignoring him.

Of all the vessels that Orochimaru chose Kabuto never liked a single one of them. They were very much the same to him. Weak minded and weak willed to have given in that easily. At least with Uzumaki Naruto there was a spirit to break. He was sick and tired of seeing the typical avengers. Why the serpentine sannin had such fascination with complexes like that Kabuto would never know. However it was a welcome relief to see Naruto.

He wouldn't have to put up with superiority complexes or other brats' needs to prove themselves. Or certain Uchihas with Avenger tendencies. Anybody would have seen that Naruto made a tamer choice compared to the temperamental Uchiha Sasuke.

Besides the boy's evolving genetics were something he couldn't pass up.

Kabuto's thoughts were broken at the sound of slight rustling from the bed. Blue eyes stared up into his calmly. Surprise, surprise. He had thought that Naruto would put up some form of resistance…ah yes, he had nearly forgotten. The man was no longer quite the hot tempered, impulsive boy he had once been. It was somewhat perturbing that he would get through the first initial stage so swiftly without having to take the extra medication and being locked in a barrel.

"This…is interesting." Said Naruto as Kabuto pushed up his glasses.

"I thought that you would have at least asked why you were here." Kabuto replied somewhat put off by the fact that Naruto showed no overwhelming confusion or tension of being in Orochimaru's lair. Then again he believed that he was dying, which was true in a sense.

Blue eyes flickered to gaze at something Kabuto couldn't see before refocusing. "I'm not surprised because I knew the possibilities. That in itself is explanation enough."

Highly interesting. Kabuto supposed that the reason why the blonde haired man showed such apathy toward everything at the moment being was because he had been pushed beyond his limits which were rather considerable. Who could blame him? Living in a village for twenty-five years unappreciated could make any sane man snap within moments. Naruto on the other hand lived with it, endured in it. By all definition Naruto should have snapped years ago but he didn't.

A smirk made its way onto his face. What if Naruto had subconsciously suppressed those feelings? What if they were to be unleashed? Hell would be tame compared to the anger of a powerful man who was becoming the very thing that even the Gods feared to anger. The possibility made him smile for a moment. It would be somewhat entertaining to see the looks of horror on the villagers' faces when they saw their precious Kazama, their precious last ties to Yondaime come after them with the vengeance of the angel of the Apocalypse.

"So you're not adverse to the fact that you're going to become Orochimaru?"

"It's not the most pleasant of thoughts but neither do I have any choice. Keep in mind that I'm dying as well as the fact that I have more constitution than his other containers." Naruto calmly replied as he stared back in pitch eyes.

Kabuto shrugged his shoulders. One couldn't deny the truth. Naruto had a reputation among a large number of nins for having a will of a god. Nothing could shake him for long and certainly death wouldn't stop him from keeping him away from what he wanted. That kind of drive killed many foolish shinobi for treading on dangerous grounds and it was the same force that made Naruto a formidable shinobi among the Five Countries. Orochimaru had his work cut out for him simply because he wouldn't break Naruto.

Naruto had broken a time ago and resurfaced as a stronger man for it.

"You tread dangerous ground Uchiha Sasuke." Tsunade growled as she refrained from her desire to mash the black haired man to an unrecognizable pulp.

"There's nobody else in this god forsaken village that can stand up to my brother Hokage." Sasuke sneered in disgust.

Light brown eyes gazed back angrily. "You're under restraint and don't you dare forget who holds your pitiful life in their hands. Naruto may not be in the village because of your stupidity caused years ago but he wasn't stupid enough to only entrust it to himself. He gave me the means to activate those intricate seals on your body."

A black brow quirked at the carefully chosen words and Sasuke could feel that the words held a purpose.

_Earlier he had been on a stroll in the village ignoring the stares that the villagers gave him when he saw Sakura high tailing toward the Hokage Tower, her face betraying deep concern. _

_Intrigued, he followed at some distance, utilizing his stealth skills as he slipped by the guards and made his way to the Hokage's office where the door was closed. Using a few hand seals he subtly manipulated the air to become a tad thinner so that he could hear their conversation._

"…_doesn't have the strength to face Itachi now and now he's fighting him!" Sakura hissed and Sasuke could imagine the young woman at the verge of bursting into tears. _

"_I was afraid that he would do something like this. That man always had a death wish that even I can't curb no matter how hard I tried." Came the Hokage's defeated voice. _

"_You're just going to let him do as he wishes!" _

"_I never said that Sakura. All I'm saying is that if he wants to do this then you shouldn't get in the way…Naruto's strength is not something to be trifled with if his mind is set. Jiraiya has proof of that." _

"_Even so, it's not right!"_

_Sasuke refrained from flinching when he heard the desk crack in half. _

"_Haruno, Sakura don't you dare presume what is right and wrong for him. As much as I like you Naruto's wellbeing has always been my first priority. Keep in mind that it was that promise that he made to you that forced him to become this way."_

_So much venom was exhibited that it took the dark haired man by shock. He never thought in his whole life that Tsunade would have the will to devastate her own apprentice. It was then that Sakura marched out of the office, uncaring at the fact that Sasuke had listened to the whole conversation. He caught faint glimmers of tears in the corners of her eyes. _

_Light brown eyes gazed sharply at him. "Come in and close the door behind you."_

Mutely, he complied which landed him to the topic of Naruto.

Somehow her words…her actions spoke of something hidden about Naruto. What more could the blonde hide from the world? Sasuke knew of the demon occupying the man's navel and of his bloodline. What more could the blonde be hiding? To think that Naruto had been able to keep so much locked away for so long suggested a great deal of foresight. It would also mean that Naruto had more brains then he let on when they were children.

Most importantly why would Naruto go out of his way to walk into a death trap? What did the man have to prove?

"The way you word it…makes me wonder if you believe that he'll die." Sasuke said after he pushed the questions in his mind away. He had to get to the bottom of this 'mystery.' "What's so frightening that Naruto won't reveal his secret to anybody else save for you? The demon and his bloodline are already known throughout a great number of shinobi but this…this is something that nobody but you, Naruto and apparently Sakura know about."

Her eyes narrowed. She had nearly forgotten about Naruto's words then years ago when he returned after seeing Sasuke for the first time in three years. Uchiha Madara the accursed one…his eyes were Sasuke's.

"Why should you, a traitor care about the wellbeing of Naruto who threw everything away to get you back? Surely you would do this to just rub it in his face like you've always done in the past. Your hatred toward him isn't hard to miss."

She had a point and Sasuke knew. He didn't deserve to know but he wanted to for some compelling reason.

"Out of respect for the man. You know very well that I'll find out one way or the other."

Tsunade leaned back against her chair. The Uchiha traitor was right. He wasn't the Rookie of the Year in his generation for nothing. He knew where to look and where to find it in due time. She felt safer knowing that she had control over the traitor thanks to Naruto. Even though Naruto had taken a neutral stance, Tsunade could feel a small prick of resentment in the fact that he gave her the means to destroy Uchiha with a flick of her hand.

"This won't change things at all Uchiha however if you wish to know then I'll tell you. I warn you though…you may not like what you hear." Tsunade said maliciously. Gods how she wanted to hurt him. "Then again you might. Who knows, you've hated him forever and tried to kill him a number of times."

"Then get on with telling me."

The blonde haired woman leaned forward with a grim smile. "Simply put Naruto is dying. He's been dying since he was twelve from a rather acute disease that deteriorates the body by in a sense prematurely aging it. We caught onto the disease when he was fifteen after he left to search for you. Once he came back he has been submitted to extensive genetic therapy to slow down its progress. However it's a rather persistent illness and a rather painful one as well.

"Naruto has gone to great lengths on keeping it quiet about it. You who hold Madara's eyes can't see the darker being within Naruto that even the Kyuubi has no idea of, much less yourself. Naruto recently found out and it's not a pretty sight. I suppose that the awakening of his eyes have revealed that darker presence sleeping within him. One of his genins, a Sato had seen a vision of it but does not understand. Before you can assume anything else, Sakura only knows of the first part, the second is much more tightly kept."

Riddles upon riddles, puzzles within each other. Sasuke understood the part of Naruto dying a painful death not of his doing but the darker presence…What presence could be darker than the Kyuubi or Mandara's eyes? There had been so many legends come to life that nothing could be worse than what everybody had already experienced since the day Itachi slaughtered the Uchiha.

"What can be worse than Mandara's eyes or the Kyuubi?" Sasuke asked calmly. In the end not even Mandara's eyes could defeat Itachi's.

"Don't presume that you're the only one to share Mandara's many eyes. Naruto too has them- even stronger than yours I believe. The being on the other hand has always lain dormant within his dying body. A strange anomaly given that his family lines never carried it nor did it come with the demon. Jiraiya and I debated that it could be a split personality of sorts but that theory proved wrong since it seemed rather ancient. At some point it would have to be surmised that the presence dormant in Naruto is older than the nine demons."

Mandara's eyes…Naruto had them as well. An unbidden shiver traveled up Sasuke's spine. The dark burgundy red eyes with silver white commas that easily shattered his genjutsu held a form of familiarity as did Itachi's bright crimson eyes.

Tsunade who had been studying the Uchiha in front of her saw his eyes darken and narrow revealing where his thoughts were taking him. His older brother…A frown graced her lips as she remembered. Three Uchihas and six pairs of Mandara's eyes.

Two for revenge, two for anger, and two for mystery.

'And there shall be three Uchihas to be graced with Mandara's cursed eyes. Two for anger. Two seeking revenge. Two for mystery…'

Uchiha Sasuke lived for revenge where his brother lived for anger…as to Naruto he had to be the one who held mystery. Nothing about the blonde had ever been simple. That added with the presence sleeping within Naruto. It would seem that the Gods chose Naruto for some purpose- to bless and curse him with his destiny tied with the unknown as well as the demon.

Naruto had thought that he did what he needed to, but he never knew about the dark archives she kept in her office. Sarutobi and Yondaime had known about it. Truth be told it scared her to death every time she looked at the files. Damn the Yamanakas for their Seers and damn the Gods for condemning Naruto to a cruel life. Life never had been fair to the blonde haired man. Even with his knowledge of the problems at hand he went on ignorant of the prophecy the Elder Yamanaka gave of his fate. She still let him go about in the shadows for the past several years manipulating events in a way that reminded Tsunade of Orochimaru at times. However their motives were different. Naruto loved his people too much whereas Orochimaru came to hate them because of the Kazama Clan. Though Naruto came out on top as the emotionally stronger of the two, it had been a close call.

She had let him do what he wanted because it was the only freedom she could give. The only form of consolation that she could give.

Now with Naruto most likely captured by Akatsuki or Orochimaru the darkest secret locked up in her office would come to pass as every word that the Elder Yamanaka prophecy would come true. A truth that would ultimately kill Naruto. How he died however was up to him and he had gone to face the darkness with dignity.

"His life is not his own is it." Sasuke said, breaking Tsunade out of her thoughts.

"No. Not really. The news of the illness rattled him but didn't really seem to surprise him. I figured that he had felt it for some time but never said anything about it."

Sasuke nodded his head toward the woman as he then took his leave.

He had heard enough.

AN: I live. School sucks and it always will. I hope that this chapter is long enough. Please try not to be too confused. A ton of things will come to light in the future so grin and nod at certain points. Well, off to bed I go since I'm suffering from an illness and need to get well. Ja ne.


	7. Chapter 7

Kurokawa

Chapter Seven:

"You have got to be joking." Yasuhiro all but spluttered as he pointed at Kakashi.

"I'm not joking kiddo." Tsunade replied as she shot the dark haired boy a glare. "Sorry but your sensei has just been reassigned to a long term mission. Before he left he gave Kakashi instructions to oversee your training."

The three genins cursed their sensei. It had been barely a few weeks and their teacher just ups and vanishes. All three of them sent glares at the dark haired man standing next to Kakashi. Anybody worth their salt knew automatically that the man was none other than the infamous defect Uchiha Sasuke. Though many could give the man merit for his family history, most people in the village viewed him in a mixture of contempt and pity. Contempt for causing hell and pity for the fact that he didn't quite see beyond his revenge.

As for the three, they viewed him with distaste. Their academy teacher, Iruka-sensei had made it quite clear of the Uchiha's errant ways. It seemed odd that their sensei who had been the man's team mate hadn't extracted retribution on him for what he did. In fact he acted as if he didn't know the man, or didn't care much for him. Yelling would have been better than his apathy. Then it was Kazama-sensei they were talking about so to speak. The man had emotional responses of a rock.

"Isn't it crucial for a Jounin sensei to stay by his students?" Kaname pointed out casually.

Brown eyes narrowed. "Normally yes it is. However certain situations pertaining to your teacher's health comes first. He is a valued shinobi and can't be expendable."

The genins frowned but let the matter drop. Who were they to complain about their disapproval to the Hokage. Then there laid the matter of their sensei's health. It made no sense that their teacher would be ill. He didn't seem ill at all. Of course with a shinobi not everything could be pertained on the surface.

Instead they obeyed as they left the Hokage Tower wearing scowls.

0o0o0o0o0

Itachi stared at the mural, blood red eyes skimming over the mosaics depicting images of a past nearly long forgotten by the world save for the Akatsuki organization that had been in motion for thousands of years since the creation of mankind. He didn't turn his head at the rustling of robes near him. It wasn't Kisame but someone much more powerful than the shark like man.

In the dim lighting a hand reached out to gently touch the images on the mosaic walls.

"Do you know the story behind these walls?" A baritone voice asked gently as Itachi continued to study them.

Nobody in Akatsuki knew of the story behind the images save that it depicted a past many years ago that somehow was connected with the appearance of the nine demons of lore. He shook his head mutely as he stared at the graceful nine tailed fox demon.

"Then let me tell you."

Itachi turned his gaze from the walls for a moment to look at the leader before returning his gaze back to the walls as the lighting steadily grew to reveal all of the murals in their full glory.

0o0o0o0o0

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Haruno Sakura stared down at the photograph in her hands. It was slightly faded and dusty from years of neglect but it still captured the feelings of that day so many years ago. Naruto was glaring at Sasuke as Kakashi had his hands on their heads, his visible eye smiling as Sakura giggled in between them.

Back then Naruto had seemed so vibrant then before he faded away to the background as her duties as a medic nin took over everything as well as her wish to bring back Sasuke. During that time she hadn't been aware of Naruto's gradual fading into the background. The only thing that woke her from her ignorance had been Sai who expressed displeasure when he noticed that she hadn't been paying attention.

He had been the one to tell her the news that Naruto had become an ANBU.

She had never seen him so disappointed or saddened in her life.

Sakura felt like a fool then as she felt a fool now.

Naruto had loved her with his heart back then as an adolescent, doing everything in his power to make her happy until he could no longer hold on and faded away. She rubbed the dust off from the glass of the frame as she gazed at the image of Team Seven before it fell apart.

It hurt to know that Naruto had loved her but she had still loved Sasuke even all these years. Why couldn't she have loved Naruto? He was a stable enough person despite his previous loudness and whatnot. Beneath it all he came from the cloth that many others would call 'family man.'

Now he had learned to move on and Sakura couldn't help but feel broken inside at the fact. It didn't feel right to her that he would commit suicide as he stood dying. The gods weren't fair to him. He hadn't even obtained his goal as Hokage much less done more in his life that needed to be done before it would be cut short.

The demon trapped within him slowly marched him onward to the steps of death.

Why?

Why couldn't life be kind to him just this once?

What had he done to deserve this?

Tears made their way down her face at the pain she felt for him. She loved Sasuke but at the same time she couldn't help but feel strongly touched at Naruto's sacrifice. A knocking at her door forced her to put the photo back on its shelf as she made her way to her door, trying to wipe her tears away. Opening the door she saw Hinata standing at the threshold.

Misery seeped into Sakura's body at the sight of the kind blue haired woman standing at her door. Everybody in shinobi world along with Konoha's civilians knew of the Hyuuga Heiress's love for the blonde haired man who once had been a loudmouth and now the former head of the ANBU as well as the potential successor the to the Godaime Hokage.

Such devotion was the talk of nations as many admired Hinata's loyalty to Naruto. Their relationship held a legend of its own. Sakura wasn't sure if Naruto knew of Hinata's love or he might not be quite as receptive due to his problems and somehow she knew that despite his distance over the years, Naruto wouldn't dare harm Hinata in any way. He loved her too much, though Sakura could see that he didn't know it deep inside. It was a sad story in many ways that she couldn't describe.

0o0o0o0o0

It was like reading a tragedy from start to finish where Naruto was concerned and Hinata in the picture. He was a man afraid of revealing the terror locked behind his naval, a man who was dying due to the said terror and one who put distance to protect himself and those he came to see as friends. Then lay the issue of Hinata who most likely knew of his ailment due to her bloodline limit, who loved him wholeheartedly for who he was much before Sakura herself had come to see the blonde for his worth.

The strange tragedy also included Sakura who couldn't help but feel a small amount of jealousy at Hinata's ability to love a man whose qualities were rare in this day and age. It made her miserable to know that Naruto most likely loved Hinata without knowing it. The Hyuugas and Naruto shared a tight bond ever since that day some many years ago during the Chuunin Exam when Naruto showed Neji that life held more worth.

"Sakura-san…May I come in?" The blue haired woman asked as Sakura snapped out of her thoughts.

"Sure Hinata. Come on in." Sakura answered as she moved aside to let the other woman inside before closing the door. "Have a seat. I'll bring some tea." She said as she waved Hinata over to a couch.

"Sakura-san I thank you for your hospitality but I'm not here for idle chit chat." Hinata said firmly.

Dread filled Sakura at the tone in the once shy heiress. She paused at the entrance to her kitchen to look back at Hinata.

"I know about Naruto's illness."

0o0o0o0o0

Saaya's kick sent Kaname sprawling as he landed painfully against the trunk of a tree. The white haired boy gingerly picked himself up wincing as he felt the wind coming back into his lungs. Darn, he had forgotten Saaya's particular liking to taijutsu.

"Sorry." She muttered as she came up to him.

"We're sparring. There's nothing to be sorry about. If I had gone through that tree then it would have been a cause to be sorry about."

She glared at him. Today instead of wearing her normal clothing she had opted to wear a simple red and white patterned kimono top with simple graphically pleasing circles and black slacks finishing with combat boots as opposed to her regular shinobi sandals. Steel toed combat boots. Her brown hair had been put up into a fierce ponytail with at least two hair ties to keep it in place due to lamentable thick hair. Though somewhat heavier, she found that these clothes were rather comfortable as well lead others astray from the fact that she wasn't a civilian. Plus the boots packed a heavy kick.

Yasuhiro who had been watching the fight had managed to stop the stop watch in his hands when Kaname slammed against the tree. Glancing at the time he trotted up to the duo. "Looks like Saaya's speed has gone up a bit since last time. She beat her last record by fifteen seconds." The duo glanced at their dark haired team mate in surprise.

"Really?" She asked as Yasuhiro nodded.

"Really." He confirmed. Kaname only shook his head. "Anymore then I'll be just as tender as ground beef."

The three of them broke out into gales of laughter before sobering. Yasuhiro had been the first to stop as something tugged at the back of his mind from the previous night. He had another strange dream of the strange white haired man again. This time it had been as if he was watching the man's life before it faded away. Since his teacher's disappearance the dreams had come frequently in flashes of sound and color. Last nights dream seemed more of a vision than the usual whirlwind of chaos in his dreams.

"I think that sensei's mission has to do with that Orochimaru guy."

Kaname and Saaya glanced at their friend with surprise.

"Why do you say that Yasuhiro?" Saaya asked as she studied him closely. Judging from his constant fidgeting as well as crease in the brow, it had to do with his visions.

Determination shone in the boy's dark eyes. "Because there's something that sensei's hiding. I don't know how else to say it but somehow sensei's in the center holding all of the answers."

Holding all the answers? Answers to what?

Saaya threw a worried glance at Kaname who seemed just as baffled and worried.

0o0o0o0o0

Pale blue eyes darkened with pain. Naruto who had been at in the 'sick bay' for the past few days hadn't gotten any better despite Kabuto's treatments. If anything else he had gotten worse. Orochimaru's constant lurking nor the demon's sulking helped for that matter either.

"I swear the amount of drugs you're putting in me is enough to supply a third world country." Naruto hissed as Kabuto injected him with a vile looking liquid.

"Third world country?" He asked curiously as Naruto shook his head and brought a hand up to his forehead as if to ward off a headache.

He didn't know what was getting into him of the late. First he hadn't been this talkative or this colorful in years and now this. Somewhere in the depths of his mind he knew something back there stirred as if from slumber. That something terrified him though he would never admit it out loud. How could a person be terrified of something they couldn't name?

That nameless being now affected him.

Naruto couldn't really say if it had to do with his current residency in Sound or rather with his draining life. Either way he felt that somewhere along the line things would end rather badly.

"Never mind. Forget that I said it. I think your medicines are playing a role in my lessening my self control." Naruto intoned slowly as he fought off the effects.

Kabuto pushed up his glasses as he threw away the syringe. "I'm surprised that you've shown so much resistance to them so far to only be at the same level as a drunk, though you're not as inhibited. Your condition has taken a toll for the worst and Orochimaru-sama isn't pleased about it."

A mirthless chuckle escaped Naruto's mouth. "Looks like he won't be getting his new body." He replied as the pain died down a little.

"It just means that your body will be finished with its metamorphosis." Kabuto returned smoothly.

"The chances of success are nearly nonexistent."

"We're willing to take those chances."

Naruto's brows furrowed. He had heard those words somewhere before in the distant past. Fog filled his vision as he slumped down against the bed he occupied as he realized that Kabuto had given him a tranquilizer. He barely had time to see Kabuto's fuzzy outline with something in his hand before his lids closed into deep sleep.

"Orochimaru-sama, we may now proceed."

From the shadows the tall dark haired man came out into the soft lighting before the overhead lights clicked on to reveal a small cart near Kabuto lined with surgical instruments on top of its surface with a bowl of water and a small hand towel. Today Orochimaru hadn't dressed in his usual clothing and instead donned nondescript black scrubs with a face mask and rubber gloves.

Yellow eyes studied the prone body on the table. Though it frustrated him that the man on the table had been on a precarious edge between death and immortality, Orochimaru didn't mind making the odds swing towards immortality than death. A fifty-fifty chance wouldn't do. Hence the reason why he would go through such pains to make it at least forty-sixty.

0o0o0o0o0

Deep within Naruto subconscious a being slumbering unaware by the fox demon woke revealing cold blue eyes that shone in the darkness.

0o0o0o0o0

AN: Sorry about the long delay. You can blame my brain shutting down for the summer, nagging mothers and last minute road trip that wasn't as fun as it should have been. (With a major brain fart included now that I'm moving on up to college…) Now that I'm back I just wanted to let you guys know that I enjoyed your reviews and not to be too confused with the intertwining plot lines but to be patient.

Please don't be too angry since I promise you that the next update won't take two months.


	8. Chapter 8

Kurokawa

Chapter 8:

Blood welled up like a gush from a spring as IV tubes snapped away from the body sat up ramrod straight as the blood poured down the side of a firm mouth. From the side Kabuto swore loudly as wire snapped off as machines nearby went haywire, some going flat.

A scream of pain emerged from the bloody mouth of Uzumaki Naruto as his blue eyes snapped open to stare sightlessly into the surgical lights. Wild winds began to whip around the prone form of the blonde haired man as Orochimaru backed away with an empty syringe in hand. The winds became superheated blood red chakra that enveloped the screaming blonde as the remaining wires hooked up to the man began to rely feedback to the computer terminals not too far away.

Kabuto frantically threw a glance at the computer readings as his eyes widened.

"S-subject has activated the curse seal."

Just as his words left his mouth black symbols began to creep all over Naruto's body like living creatures especially the ones surrounding the cursed seal. The symbols glowed an eerie purple much like it did whenever the cursed seal activated. A crack tore through the air as Naruto convulsed madly as the symbols began to fade away as the cursed seal began to take hold of the man.

Orochimaru watched in interest and excitement as Naruto once again screamed as the curse spread like a plague on the man covering him where the seals once did. Only the demon's seal was left untouched or unbroken by the sudden disturbance. Sirens began to go off as Kabuto stared at the creature on the surgical bed, dying and yet at the same time in the throes of rebirth.

Creeping, the seal finally immersed the screaming man turning his once sun kissed skin into a dark grey as blonde hair grew longer and less wild until it fell against him like a silken sheet as it faded away to a shocking white. In a strange sense the two seals didn't overpower each other but shared a type of co-dominance with each other.

Level Two…

Both Oto nin watched in a mixture of fascination and anxiety.

The screams then stopped as Naruto fell back onto the surgical table, the cursed seal fading away.

What was left of the wires attached to him reported only one thing. A flatline.

"Kabuto-kun please bring out the defibulators." Orochimaru calmly stated as he watched the prone body with an expressionless face.

Nodding mutely Kabuto did as he was told as he reached over to the small case near the surgical bed and popped the locks open to take out the defibs, plugging them in before he handed the two metal pads to Orochimaru. The high pitched sound of electricity running filled the air as Orochimaru stated the amount of voltages that he wanted as Kabuto turned the dial.

"It's warmed up sir." Kabuto reported as the black haired sannin rubbed the two metal pads together for friction then slammed them down onto Naruto's bare chest. It had been fortunate that their surgical exploits hadn't fully begun as the defibulator pads came in contact with the bare chest.

A loud thud filled the air as Naruto's body lifted up on the table from the force of the electrical jolt. The machine still read flatline. Kabuto bit his lower lip, remembering Naruto's words.

"_The chances of success are nearly nonexistent."_

It seemed now that Kabuto had the sinking feeling that Naruto purposely said that because it would seem that he would be willing to purposely sabotage Orochimaru's plans in order to protect the people he considered his loved ones. Twisted yes, and in some way Kabuto could understand because he too felt strong loyalty toward Orochimaru despite his many flaws.

Whining, the high pitched sound of running electricity began to fill the air as Orochimaru rubbed the two pads together, barking out for a higher voltage. Kabuto complied as the two pads once again slammed against Naruto's chest. This time the flatline began to move up and down as all signs of life returned to Naruto.

Despite Naruto's godly willpower, Orochimaru's persistence could match it.

0o0o0o0o0

Akatsuki Headquarters

A pale hand pointed toward a mural depicting a city of the sci-fi variety.

"Once many years ago…nearly a thousand and a half to be exact, the world had become devastated with wars using biological pathogens and chemicals to create weapons of mass destruction. Unlike this world that we live in with chakra and nature, that Earth of long ago lived off of science. The origin of Akatsuki comes from that world of technology.

"Back then Akatsuki wasn't a cult or even affiliated with what we are today. In fact it was a company much like Gatou's before he died, located in today's Shinobi Continent only back then it had been called NeoTokyo and before that, China. The only difference being that it dealt with technology and science. It was from that company that we shinobi can call our ancestors came into being. It was the scientists of Akatsuki that had allowed us to use chakra…an interesting development in their pursuit for genetically superior humans after the war devastated world."

Once again the hand swept to another wall. Instead of a mural there were portraits, despite the dim lighting Itachi could still make out the faces. One was a man in his late forties wearing a business suit and a frown. He was decidedly handsome with impeccably well groomed brown hair and flashing hazel eyes. Itachi noticed that the man had a mixture of Asiatic features along with features that he had seen in his travels to the West. A half breed.

Next to the man's portrait was a woman who too was of a mixed ancestry but unlike the man, her looks leaned toward the West's with pale skin, vivid green eyes and blonde hair. The only thing that could distinguish her features coming from the East was the Asian almond shape of her eyes. The next portrait over didn't have the clarity as the other two. From what he could make out of the portrait, the person, decidedly male from the way the jaw-line had been shaped had off white hair and startling pale blue eyes. He too like the man with brown hair was dressed in a business suit. Despite those details, Itachi couldn't make out the face of the man as if it had been purposely shrouded with the extent of the damage done to the portrait.

"During those years of rebuilding as many called it, the company was owned by a man by the name Sasuno Tetsuya. The woman's portrait near him was his wife, Sasuno Maaya and lastly the most unusual and unfortunately the most damaged of the three was his son Sasuno Chihaya who also earned the nickname of Chihaya no Akaitsubasa later on for his skill that could be compared to Yondaime Hokage's infamous Hiraishin no Jutsu that earned him the nickname of Konoha's Yellow Flash.

"Sasuno Tetsuya had found an ancient text, now long forgotten and lost through the throes of time that had supposedly given him a way to bring humanity into a higher state of being. He had used his expertise in eugenics to bring his son a step higher than the rest of the human population which now was showing signs of being able to use chakra and began to copulate in the natural fashion instead of relying on science."

Itachi's blood red eyes stared at the murals after the portraits depicting a scene of a lab of a child sitting on the table.

"It was during the process of attaining this power that the beginning stages of bloodlines were born but they were failures compared to what he wanted. Then one day he succeeding in finding what he had sought for years he had impregnated his wife with the success of his laborious work and soon they had a son which they named Chihaya."

Somewhere in the dark pits of Itachi's mind he found that whatever the leader of Akatsuki would say in the next few moments would be the most enlightening thing he would ever hear for the rest of his life.

"His son Chihaya had been only twenty five when Tetsuya decided to see if indeed the success would follow through. For you see Itachi, he wanted Chihaya to summon the gates to the Other World; A world where the nine great demons along with the gods and summons come from. The only way Tetsuya would have his way was to kill the one that Chihaya held most dear to him.

"Kill her he did. Out of rage and sorrow, Chihaya had indeed summoned the portal to the Other World though not before killing his father's mistress then his father. Before Chihaya released the demons as well as the gods who had been slumbering Tetsuya went through great pains to take some genetic expressions from Chihaya that could control the demons and had them placed inside a child only one year younger than Chihaya. Today the closest relative to that child who could have control over the nine great demons was the Shodaime Hokage who is a descendant of that line.

"Chihaya went insane at the truth of the fact that he was nothing but the product of science living in a lie. After the demons were summoned he vanished in the threads of time and man had come to forget about it except Akatsuki. We slowly left the world of technology and science and focused on tracking down the nine demons we had summoned into this world.

"Our objective isn't only to collect all nine demons but it is also to summon Chihaya no Akaitsubasa and we are close to our goal."

That said the leader of Akatsuki vanished, leaving Itachi alone to stare at the walls depicting the story of humanity and the reintroduction of the demons and the gods.

0o0o0o0o0

"_Chihaya…"_

_Blue eyes smoldered in anger as they turned to glare at hazel eyes touched by insanity._

"_How could you? How could you do this…father?" The white haired man asked, his voice harder than stone and colder than ice. _

"_Don't you see? You are humanity's evolution. Gods…we can become gods and never have to suffer the stupidity and weakness of humanity. You're a god Chihaya."_

_Chihaya shook his head as anger and sorrow rose around him, enveloping him, choking his throat as he wanted to cry, to scream but couldn't. _

"_Mankind will no longer be strapped with its bonds of mortality. Summon them…show me what you're capable of Chihaya…my son."_

_A scream of rage and grief tore out of Chihaya's throat as he rushed forward to clamp his hands on his father's throat, tears running down his face as something sang in his blood. _

"_You monster…How could you do this? How could you? You killed Hikaru and I killed your mistress that had killed my mother…I'll do as you so dearly wish but after that I will kill you to make you see your weakness." Chihaya snarled as his blood sang as he felt his chakra calling out to something beyond the realm of science and reality. _

_Tetsuya who had been fighting to get a breath of air, managed to smile when his son let go of him, his pale blue eyes filled with rage as he began to go through the seals that Tetsuya had taught him for years on end. It was a summoning seal that he had found all those years ago before the birth of Chihaya. _

_Behind his godly son he watched with anticipation as a large gate appeared. It was a monstrosity wrapped in chains as Chihaya's chakra became visible to the naked eye taking the form of twelve blood red wings of light that fizzed around him. _

_He could remember the name of the being that had the only power to open the gates to the other realm. A name of a Western deity…Abbadon the once ancient God of Opening the Paths to the Beyond that had become a great angel after Christianity swept through the West that guarded the Gates of Hell._

_The chains fell away from the gate as the doors began to open as a loud funeral bell tolled three times in the background. A wave of fear poured through Tetsuya breaking him briefly out of his insanity as shuffling and rumbling could be heard from beyond the gate as creatures began to pour forth and vanished. _

_Then what seemed to be an eternity, the greater beings came out from the back and with them came the fear of the gods themselves. They were creatures of nightmares and he saw why they were named demons. _

_One by one they came out in the forms of various animals with a various number of tails or heads in the snake's case. The last to come out from that fearsome darkness in the beyond was a giant fox, well known in the Asian countries through a large number of myths. _

_Kyuubi no Kitsune. _

"_You wished to see the unholy power of your work father…well here it is." Chihaya whispered as the demons stepped forward with hellish looks on them and Tetsuya knew within that moment that his son had complete control of them as he had predicted. _

_Before he could say anything in his sudden bout of sanity the demons descended upon him as pale blue eyes watched in pain, anger, sorrow and self-disgust. _

_From his pocket of his suit he pulled out a small knife and plunged it into his chest._

0o0o0o0o0

Yasuhiro woke up in cold sweat as he clutched his sheets, taking deep breaths to steady his beating heart. The visions…he couldn't...they couldn't be real…could they?

He threw a glance at the clock near his bed to see the numbers read out 3:03 AM. Ever since he had met his Jounin sensei the visions had become much clearer and too detailed for his liking. What sort of connection did sensei have with the man Chihaya?

A shiver ran up his spine at the thought of the man. Both he and sensei could have been mistaken as twins from their looks with the only difference being the hair color. Another person who also could have been mistaken for the two was oddly enough Yondaime Hokage.

Round and round the wheel went. Yasuhiro didn't know where it would end and it all pointed to sensei…but why when it seemed that a guy long dead held the answers…so then why were they all pointing to sensei?

Pale blue eyes…

Same yet not the same…

Different yet not…

The pain in both…

Perhaps…just perhaps it might be possible that sensei might be a descendant of Chihaya. It would somehow explain their similarities but it was rather uncanny that after so many years that the descendants would look just like their ancestor…There had to be another explanation.

Sensei might be a reincarnation of Chihaya…

Wait that didn't make much sense…where did Yondaime fit into this?

Round and round they went…

A never ending cycle of pain, sadness and anger…

Then there lay the demons that plagued the world…

Hell released through pain, sadness and anger…

All ending in a brilliant slash of red.

0o0o0o0o0

Sakura buried her face in her hands as thoughts raced through her mind to Hinata's visit several hours before as tears ran down her face. It wasn't fair. Truly it wasn't and Naruto had done a damned well job of covering everything up in the face of the world save Hinata's. She could read Naruto like a book no matter what.

Hinata's words rolled around in Sakura's head relentlessly as she wiped the tears from her eyes to gaze at the coffee table in front of her. Of the late she had been spending more time in her living room than in her bedroom.

"_Sakura I've known about Naruto's illness ever since he came back from his trip with Jiraiya training…"_

Guilt consumed her as she continued to stare at the flat surface of the coffee table staring at her faint reflection that had been cast on the table. She was tired of waiting…tired of being in the dark.

Tired of the mocking spiral that wound around in circles…

Oh so tired of the wheels churning and moving. Like those of the Sharingan…the Pinwheel Eye.

The spiral defined in Konoha's symbol…the spiral of Naruto's name…A spiral of the world.

Naruto…

Uzumaki…

Kazama…

Green eyes widened in the dark with sudden realization.

0o0o0o0o0

Hyuuga Neji glared at Uchiha Sasuke and Sasuke glared back.

"Where do you think you're going Sasuke?" Neji asked contemptuously at the other dark haired man.

"Does it matter to you?"

A dark frown marred Neji's face at the other man's words. Though he was rarely prone these days to hold grudges or smoldering embers of hatred towards others since he had met Naruto; he couldn't help but feel deep resentment toward Sasuke. He was nothing but a constant source of misery for everybody especially Naruto whom he had come to consider as a brother. (Secretly he hoped that his cousin Hinata and Naruto would hook up given that the blonde's presence would be good for the divided clan…) Now that the wayward Uchiha had come back, things had begun to go downhill given the fact that Naruto now was on a mission and wouldn't be back for a long time and he, Neji was stuck babysitting.

"Yes it does. By the decree of the Hokage you're not allowed outside of the parameters after dark. In case Orochimaru messed with your head a tad too much for you to remember."

Sasuke ignored the barb in the other man's voice. By now he was pretty much used the looks of hatred from the villagers for causing them so much misery. They never forgot and he figured that it seemed ironic that Naruto wasn't the constant source of their hatred these days. Ah the gods did like a good irony. Yet despite it all he had asked for it and he would take it without complaint.

Naruto on the other hand didn't. In fact he never did anything to warrant his lifestyle he now lived.

"Does it look like I'm leaving the compound? I'm only out here to get a breath of fresh air."

"Or so you say. You're up to something Uchiha."

If only he knew…

Sasuke wisely kept his mouth shut as he stared up at the moon. Round and round they went in a spiral of repeats. The only way that it would ever stop rested in Naruto's hands, his fate long ago planned out by the gods themselves.

"No. I'm not up to something but I know that Naruto is."

Neji stared at the other man with a deeper frown.

0o0o0o0o0

Round and round the spiraling wheel turned…

From the darkness a hand reached out to stop the spinning wheel.

"So where shall we go? Up or down?"

0o0o0o0o0

AN: Looking back after nine months of writing this fic I never thought that it would grow to be this popular and I would have to say that it has been my better work since my writing skills had matured beyond my childish eighth grade through tenth grade slog.

College is in full swing and it's putting a strain on my life but don't fret. I'm still finding time to continue my fics. Kurokawa is my first priority since I'm looking forward to finishing this series with a decent amount of high quality chapters.

Chapter Nine is currently going through major revision and as most have noticed, my chapters are updated on a monthly basis though I will try to do it on a bimonthly basis for your convenience.


	9. Chapter 9

Kurokawa

Chapter Nine:

Nine…such a symbolic number.

Multiple of three.

Insanity…

Round and round the spiral spun until it bled into darkness.

Naruto stared at the imageless area in front of him with a mixture of dread and anticipation. In his whole life, this was the first time that his subconscious did not project the flooding sewers. Yet to be devoid of anything personal rubbed him raw. Was he that inhuman to have nothingness as his true subconscious?

"Not nothingness."

He turned around to come face to face with a mirror image of himself with the only exceptions being white hair and the lack of the cheek markings on his face. The thing that haunted his dreams- dreams he couldn't remember after waking up.

"You." Naruto breathed softly as he stared at the man in front of him. Familiar yet so foreign.

"Yes, me. You."

The conversation would have been lost to one listening in but Naruto understood where this person was going. A part of him had always known the truth but denied it. The other part had played ignorance.

"Us. We." Naruto finished.

"Very much so. Your father was the vessel. He was the descendant of one of my clones that survived the destruction."

Naruto looked away upon hearing those words. Tsunade had said something about odd gene sequences to him when he underwent extensive genetic therapy with the use of stem cells, viruses that could encode itself into normal DNA such as the cold sore virus and other methods that included chakra. He had looked upon the results and admitted that something about his DNA structure was decidedly off. They had attributed it with the demon residing in him but some pointed in the direction of possible human gene expressions that it couldn't only be the fox but something else.

Not everything could be explained by science but they tried.

"What are you. What am I?" Naruto finally asked as he gazed at the being in front of him. The definition of life was constantly shifting as far as he was concerned.

"You can call me Chihaya. We're the same being as you've already acknowledged just now but at the same time we're not."

"Different personalities but one body that keeps changing for reasons outside of scientific explanation."

"Yes. However…now is the time that the separation mends."

To have two souls in one body was taxing but to be branched into three meant death in a short amount of time. It somehow explained some of Kyuubi's destructive presence in his body and his swiftly decaying health. Naruto brought a hand up to his chest staring at Chihaya's face.

"But I'm myself though we're two halves of one soul."

Blue eyes narrowed then relaxed. "That is true…however it is necessary to ensure your survival- for this world's survival."

A sacrifice…

Another to add to his list of sacrifices.

Somehow…somehow for the first time in many years he felt tears stinging his eyes.

If it was for the good of the world, then why did it suddenly sound like a death sentence?

"Come."

Naruto reached out then snatched his hand back.

"Do you not wish to live?"

The question had plagued Naruto for so long that it hurt. He at some point wished to live long enough to become Hokage but that dream seemed so superficial, so far away out of his grasp. No amount of stretching or running could get him there. This world continued it spiraling descent to madness and somehow the gods had seen fit that he put an end to the bloodied tale.

"Don't we all wish to live? What is life? What is death?" Naruto asked as he gazed at Chihaya with a smile. "Simple. It doesn't exist. They're all states of the mind. We believe that this is life, but is it really? The terms are loose and can be interpreted in different ways. No right, no wrong.

"I used to believe that I would live long enough to be Hokage so that people would acknowledge me…however that doesn't matter anymore. All that matters is that I lived the way I wanted to. I'm not afraid to let go."

He met Chihaya's eyes.

"Life- for me is in the here and now. What comes is what comes. I'm willing to pay the price to be myself. Please grant my selfish wish, my first and last one."

A leaf from an ancient holly tree fell off, spiraled downwards toward the ground and landed on the soft grass next to a yew sapling.

"As you wish."

0o0o0o0o0

Failure. They had failed to mend the illness consuming Kazama Naruto. Kabuto didn't know whether to grit his teeth in anger or to attempt the whole process over again. They still had some time left over to make another attempt at it.

Kabuto pushed up his glasses as he stared down at the slumbering form of the demon vessel. He had just finished the complete printout of Naruto's medical condition. The printout revealed that over the years that the Kyuubi vessel had undergone extensive genetic therapy to slow down the decay but it did little in the overall effects. For now he was at a somewhat stable condition for the moment being.

Yet the amount of surgery that he had underwent…little wonder why Naruto had been so confident in Orochimaru's failure of the procedure.

Death would come swift for him yet the potential for Naruto's body to merge with the Kyuubi's long life was so close that he could almost taste the potential success. The two had been in an uneasy symbiosis long enough for the beginnings of integration to occur. Yet Naruto had held it off and began a process of counteracting that merge with his seals. Physically the goal was within reach but Kabuto now felt that it went beyond the physical the spiritual.

There had been proposed theories as to why certain people were suited as demon vessels and others not. Those theories shared one thing in common. Occupation of souls. Why else would Orochimaru have his immortality? A body could carry two souls without too much lasting physical damage as long as the right barriers were put in place. Naruto's had nine seals to contain the demon within him, protecting him from the full extent of the demon chakra. However if he was so well protected with the Yondaime's seals and his own, why was he still deteriorating when all medical attempts would have succeeded.

Simple.

He had been a fool not to see it sooner.

What if Naruto had more than two souls occupying one body?

A mortal body would not be able to handle the strain hence the reason why Orochimaru wanted to make sure that Naruto's body achieved immortality through the Kyuubi before occupying it or else the decay would accelerate to destructive proportions.

The more willful the souls the higher chances of death can occur as well since they constantly fought each other for dominance that transferred over the physical realm.

Since Naruto had three souls occupying his body then that would make all treatments on the physical realm nearly useless even if the third party was inactive. If that was the case then the third party member needed to be eliminated for anything useful to happen.

Just as he was about to leave to give Orochimaru a report of his findings, he ran into a dark figure with blood red eyes.

"I-Itachi."

Author's Notes: Ah, yet another chapter uploaded. Sorry that it's short. Hope you guys enjoy it. College is completely dominating my life, ah well. Just to let you guys know I've opened up a new account here on under the pen name of Cereus. If you're a Star Wars fan then head on over there to see what I have up so far.

My profile details on upcoming projects that you might be interested in. I dunno.


	10. Chapter 10

Kurokawa

Chapter 10

7 Years Ago…

Naruto leaned back to stare up at the blue sky. Unlike most days with blue skies and whatnot, it wasn't the gentle, soft blue that he knew would promise oncoming rain sometime in the middle of the week depending on the barometric pressure- today's sky was sharp enamel blue nearly the color of lapis lazuli promising upcoming days of warmer weather.

He seemed to be doing that a lot…thank you Shikamaru for being so infectious…

A light breeze ruffled his spiky hair; a small smile lit his face. Unlike his normal face-consuming ones, this one portrayed the ring of truth and seemed much more natural on his face than his other smiles. There was a presence in his midst and he didn't mind because it was one that he had always known since he had been a child in the Academy…had known since he had first met this person before ever going into the Academy.

For years he feigned ignorance to the truth but considering after everything it would only be fair- to himself and that person to settle this no matter what.

"Naruto-kun." A soft feminine voice called.

Turning ever so slowly, Naruto gave the Hyuuga heiress a slow smile watching the young woman blush and saw that she refrained from putting her fingers together. She still was a ways away from stopping the gesture altogether but it could be deemed as a start.

Today she forwent her shinobi uniform for something more civilian- an informal yukata of white cotton depicting navy blue irises to reflect on the nature of late spring and early summer. Her obi was a soft shade of pink to accent the dark blue and bring out the white. Over the years she had grown out her bob to shoulder length hair that was tied back in an appropriate fashion of the Hyuuga.

Oh she was a heartthrob alright. A true one in the village. The only others that could compare were Ino, Sakura and Tenten. (Though Tenten had already been claimed by Neji, a few boys could still wish despite the fact that she was already in a relationship with Neji.) Naruto was by no means blind but he did common sense. Hinata was the heiress of the village's most prestigious family as well as the largest. People born into the Hyuuga were not for the common rabble though it was fun to watch his ANBU team mates and comrades sigh after the young woman.

There had been jabs here and there amongst the other shinobi of his own personal relationship with Hinata since he knew that she had a crush for him as long as he could remember. It wasn't a secret that everybody knew of her affections towards him. He had approached her affections with friendship, never hinting elsewhere because he did not wish to hurt her feelings and he was still trying to get over Sakura.

Yet it had been six years since he had declared his 'love' to Sakura and three more since he had become close friends with her knowing full well that she truly loved Uchiha Sasuke. It had been somewhat of an eye opener in his case but a necessary one which went well with the ultimate truth of the future that lie before him. In a way he felt grateful to the ones above that Sakura loved Sasuke. He, himself would die from painful 'disease' that ate away at his life expectancy. However it hurt.

Nothing would come out of it and time was healing his wounds.

"Hinata…" He answered just as softly as he gazed down at the petite woman.

She held his gaze without flinching.

"I've been avoiding this for years but I just can't keep it in any longer Naruto-kun…I love you and I always have." Hinata blurted out as she watched for his reaction.

For a while she had known that Naruto had become quieter and withdrew from the others save for herself and Neji oddly enough. She didn't complain though since it allowed her to be closer to him. Ever since she had first laid eyes on him when he helped her find her way back home she had loved him. It didn't deter her when he confessed that he carried the Kyuubi within him for she had known since her days in the Academy.

She had the Byakugan after all. It would have been stupid to ignore that fact. Then again the other shinobi did forget- forget that the Hyuuga children could access their Byakugan at will. They could see through anything and Naruto wasn't the exception for her.

"Hinata."

Staring into pale blue eyes she saw a glimmer of something in them.

"You don't love me." He said gently, his large hand resting on her shoulder.

A part of her wanted to cry but she couldn't find it in her to do so because she saw in his eyes that he was in pain. Naruto had been readable to her for years and nothing could stop her from being able to see the truth in those pale blue orbs.

"Naruto- you can't lie to me. You know as well as I do that I know that isn't true." She replied firmly.

Naruto felt his lips tugging. Even after all of these years he still wasn't a very good liar…or rather- Hinata knew him much too well.

"Then…what I was trying to say is that I can't return your love Hinata." Naruto let his hand fall away from her, waiting for her response. He just prayed that she wouldn't cry- he didn't want her to cry, not on a beautiful day like this and especially not when she was a good friend.

To his surprise she didn't.

Determination set in her eyes Hinata gazed up at him. "I know."

'If she knew then why in the seven hells did she-' Naruto thought when he was interrupted.

"You love Sakura but you know that her heart belongs to Uchiha Sasuke. Perhaps in time you can come to love me. We're already friends…it shouldn't be too hard. You once told me to never give up for my dreams and goals. Nothing in this world can change the fact that I love you and nothing will. I will wait to the ends of the earth for you to come to love me equally.

"Don't even start on the Hyuuga rabble on me since that doesn't matter. I have final say in who I get to marry and not even the council elders can sway my choice Naruto. That's a promise and my nindo way."

Seeing the normally gentle Hyuuga suddenly become downright determined made Naruto smile at her. He couldn't help it. Hinata had a way with people and her declaration of her nindo sealed that she would follow through with her words no matter what. Then also there was the fact that somewhere in his heart that he had a feeling that he too could come to love her given the right circumstances. He hadn't given up on Sakura not completely, but he knew that he had another chance- this time with Hinata. It was selfish of him, he knew since he would eventually die before her but at least he would know that when he left that he would leave with the knowledge that Hinata saw him more than a friend, that she took the chances of falling in love with the demon vessel.

The years he had known her, he had watched her overcome her shyness and her insecurities into a strong willed woman with a kind heart and a talent with medicine that surpassed even Sakura's. She had also secured her seat of power within the Hyuuga house and allowed her sister to stay as a member of the main family, completely shocking the elders but earning the quiet approval of her father.

"Then…then it's possible that I will come to love you too Hinata." He replied softly as he leaned forward to kiss her on the forehead and left the pale eyed woman blushing behind him as he walked away.

For her he would try.

The ties to the past were slowly washing away and he felt in his heart that he would be able to accept that fact in time.

0o0o0o0o0

Present Day

She had never forgotten her words with Naruto when he had quietly declared to her that the possibility existed for him to love her back. Hinata knew that he was the most dedicated man on the planet as well as the most honest one that she ever knew though he tried to hide certain things from her. Over the years she had seen something quite alarming going on in his body but never said a word of it to him knowing well that the reason why he distanced himself was to avoid pain to the others including herself.

Despite the fact that she knew that he would die young with his dream of Hokage unfulfilled at this rate, she couldn't have cared less that his life expectancy wasn't the longest. All that mattered was that she could spend time with him before he left this world. It was unfair that the brightest light in this world was also the most fragile. Her heart ached for him but she knew that he too had his love of freedom.

If you loved something then let it go, if it came back then it was a good indication that the love was forever.

So she let him go and watched him fly free.

"Hinata-sama. Hiashi-sama and the council wishes to talk with you."

She came out of her thoughts to see Neji come into her room with a small smile which she returned. "I hope that it's not another report on the family finances…because with Naruto teaching us accounting, the only difference we'll see is the increase of our stocks." Hinata joked as her cousin shook his head with an answering smile.

"I have a feeling that it's not related to stocks or finances."

"Good. It was getting boring listening to the same topic for the past four weeks."

Together they entered the large conference room to be greeted with the sight of the family elders and the previous Head sitting around a low table on cushions. Hinata took her seat next to her father as Neji sat to her left. Hanabi wasn't present due to a mission in Cloud.

"Hinata." Hiashi said as his daughter sat down.

"Father, elders." Hinata greeted as she faced them.

The previous Head of the Hyuuga family directed his gaze at the members of the council.

"The reason I have called a meeting is to discuss the Hyuuga family's future."

Several eyebrows went up to his words as Hinata studied her father, wondering if he really was going to say an interlude about the family's finances or not.

"I believe that it is time that Hinata has a suitable husband to continue the Hyuuga line."

Neji's head snapped towards Hiashi in surprise as Hinata's did the same. All around them the elders muttered in agreement. It wasn't new that a child of a wealthy family would have an arranged marriage if the daughter was 18 years of age. Hinata was well past that age but to bring it up now?

"I have compiled a list of candidates that can be considered."

Hinata stood up.

"As the current Head of the Hyuuga, I will not be joined in an arranged marriage." Hinata protested firmly as she glared at the others gathered.

"Sit down Hinata- I haven't even finished." Hiashi replied. "The council has agreed as well."

She glanced at the elders and glared at them as they nodded their heads. With a mental sigh she sat down.

"As I was saying- the list of available candidates goes: Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino…"

The list went on and on until he hit upon one name.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Uproars went up all over the table as some of the elders objected to the choice.

"The demon vessel? Are you crazy Hiashi!"

Hinata slammed her hand on the table, immediately silencing the room before turning her attention towards her father for his reasoning. Naruto wasn't part of any wealthy family or one of noble status…so how did he make that list?

Neji shook his head as he remembered that Hinata had been out for a mission dealing with a rogue shinobi when the Hokage had informed the Heads of Houses of Naruto's lineage.

"Though he may be the demon vessel and though it does seem rather unorthodox- we cannot deny the fact that he is the most powerful shinobi after the Hokage and Jiraya-sama. Before anymore of you can start denouncing him; his social status stands above ours."

Silence rang before Tanaka opened his mouth.

"The only other way his rank can come before us Hiashi-sama is either if he's connected to the Lords of the Elemental Countries or if he's the son of the Sarutobi or now extinct Kazama line; which is very unlikely."

Hiashi closed his eyes. Theoretically speaking he wasn't supposed to release the information but he felt that it was time that Konoha acknowledged the truth. The Council of Konoha be damned.

"His records or at least that released to the public and the ANBU forces are fake."

Hinata couldn't believe her ears. Naruto's records were false?

"He is in fact not some unknown and unnamed child of a civilian or whatnot but actually the son of Yondaime Hokage, making him the sole heir of the Kazama family as well as the Uchiha family since Uchiha Sasuke was publicly denounced from the title of heir as we all very well know. Though publicly his child would inherit the title of Head of Uchiha, it's very unlikely so. The Konoha Council, the Fire Lord and the Hokage have come to terms that Naruto would inherit the two Houses. The Kazama is his by right but in order to fully claim the Uchiha House, he has to bring back the Satos' true bloodline out of dormancy.

"In terms of status, marrying Hinata to Kazama Uzumaki Naruto will give us stronger ties to the Royal House. The other Houses in rank and status are equal to ours and will not bring prestige to our name as we are constantly striving to show the other foreign shinobi that our lineage is above theirs with the exception to the Royal House. Then there is also the fact that Yondaime sealed the nine tailed demon within his own son. He dared not to sacrifice any other child for the burden meaning that this whole village has grievously offended our Lord. We are Hyuuga and yet we were blind to the truth of the matter."

To Neji the news wasn't exactly a surprise given that he knew of Naruto's lineage since he was the Head of ANBU as well as a trusted man of the Hokage to be let into the news but he still hadn't completely wrapped his mind around the fact that Naruto had come from a House that was royalty. Another fact that he took into consideration was that Orochimaru too was a descendant of the House, though officially declared erased from the family annuls and a bastard, it didn't change the fact that both were related by blood.

He knew historically that the Four Houses tended to intermarry but rarely since it skewed the balance of power as well as brought on issues of health in consideration to inbreeding. (Hence the reason why the Kazamas married most of the time outside of their lineage. Yondaime himself was a Kazama through marriage and his wife the actual Head.)

Glancing at Hinata, he saw that she had been shocked at the news as well as the other Hyuugas gathered at the meeting. A part of him chuckled since he knew that she wouldn't object to the arrangement. If the Council of Konoha gave acknowledgement to Naruto's claim to the title then it was more than acceptable that Hinata could marry Naruto. He also knew that Naruto wasn't completely over Sakura but he also knew that Naruto knew his limits and gave up on Sakura to try and build a relationship with Hinata.

He also knew that Naruto would never hurt her and proved himself a good man. The life a shinobi was complicated but Naruto would do her good. Besides, when arranged marriages like this happened, neither party had any say. In this case, it was fortunate that Hinata and Naruto liked each other- given time that mutual friendship would become love. Knowing Naruto, he would uphold that ultimate bond of respect.

However what worried Neji was Naruto's terminal illness so to speak. Just about every Hyuuga knew it and he knew that Hinata knew of it as well. From Hinata's facial expression he could see that she also knew of the truth of Naruto's fading time but had determination in her eyes as if to say that she wouldn't let that hinder her from loving him.

"Then…by standards of tradition in order to elevate our family's status, we cannot disagree with what the regent proposes. All that is left is the choice of our Head."

Hinata lifted her chin as she glanced at the council with silent determination.

"I accept the arrangement."

AN: I hate doing this but I have to…in order to clear up some confusion on the part of Hinata being suddenly thrown into the fic. No worries I had my intention. Chapter Ten will clear up that confusion; just don't kill me for putting in twists. Then again I do have the propensity of doing just that. Please don't kill me for not updating since forever since school, loss of data from my desktop, and laptop going in for repairs has set me back a lot. Originally I wasn't going to make Hinata's appearance all that important but then figured what the heck.

If I was going to make this a work that I could be proud of, then some exploration wouldn't hurt. Then again it could be attributed with the music I was listening to at the inception of this chapter.

(Please don't delete my fic because I made the AN a little too long.)

Shinkirou by Loveholic from Black Blood Brothers. After finding butchered lyrics online, I managed to do some damage control and make it as natural as can be to find that they were rather sad.

I took artistic liberty to pretty up words and make it understandable since I know a little Korean.

Tell me the secrets of your dreams  
The sadness that we've faced  
It buys a forgiveness percentage

The close relativity thus it comes,  
Positions in front of my eyes  
The assistance which takes it, is not  
It hides secretly and it holds the promise I never knew

My memories that become blurry, fades  
A shattered heart that blunts even the dull pain  
My burned soul is now cold, lump ash  
Tears filled with pain

So tell me...tell me...the reason why...  
How can you do this to me  
You break my heart  
And you make me cry

The last rays of moonlight is expressionless  
Quality in the vindications which pretend  
Vanishes without a trace of existence  
You'll never know

The pain inside is not the end  
It leaves after being late  
Leaving raw, weeping wounds  
Meaning will disappear and the flower of the love wilts

So tell me...tell me...the reason why...  
How can you do this to me..  
You break my heart..  
And you make me cry..


	11. Chapter 11

Kurokawa

"_You can't run away from the reality nor can we run from the past."_

Chapter Eleven:

A side door to Tsunade's office opened to reveal Naruto clinging to the doorframe as his breathing was labored and the white yukata he wore rested in a skewed position. Sweat covered his face in a thin film as his glassy eyes bore into hers. She swiftly stood up and activated the wards to her front door as she made her way to the blonde who slumped against her as she helped him to a chair facing her desk.

"Take it easy there Naruto. You can't go around pushing yourself." She said softly as Naruto let his breathing calm.

"The hypnosis worked and my bunshin is destroyed." He rasped as the side door once again opened to reveal a frowning Jiraiya.

Her mind raced at his words. She hadn't expected for hypnosis therapy to work on him given that what they had been searching for lie deep within his soul. Too deep for him to even know about in the first place if it hadn't been for the fact that Naruto held strong sensitivity on what went on within him thanks to the fox demon.

His methods were harsh and desperate. That much she knew every time she saw him place another piece on the chessboard. What had been something that he couldn't have control over became something he manipulated for his purposes out of despair. To go such lengths for the sake of the precious few he cared about; keeping alive the dream of a former nukenin that he had met when he had first become a genin.

Naruto had lied to everyone, withdrew from society and sacrificed everything for this moment. The moment that would turn the tides of the war.

Everybody had known since the sealing of the demon that Naruto would be the crux of something. They never knew that it would extent to something possibly above the Akatsuki and Orochimaru. (Though those were the immediate threats.)

"What did you find out?" She asked as she handed Naruto a towel.

Blue eyes bore into hers; they weren't as glassy as before, but cold chips of ice reflecting something akin to a mixture of regret and resignation.

"It would seem that we would need Yasuhiro Sato for that. He knows more about the situation than I."

"What do you mean about that Naruto?" Jiraiya asked as he stared at the cursed seal that revealed itself from the loose yukata and mentally cringed.

"Seeing the past…I have overheard from time to time that I have a particularly strong effect over the Sato clan- seeing how my student is the heir, it would make more sense to bring him in to shed more light over the issue."

Jiraiya jerked in surprise at his words. The Sato family kept to themselves but he had never known that they could have sensitivity towards a particular person. Would it mean that everytime Naruto had passed by a Sato that something would happen or was it something else?

"Explain."

Naruto brought a hand up to his face and rubbed it wearily before he spoke.

"The reason I would surmise as to why they have such high sensitivity to me in particular isn't only based on my personal hell or the muted demon but rather at the fact that unlike everyone else they have encountered in their life, my soul is something of a reincarnation."

There had been religious sects that supported the theory but never had it been somewhat proven as a fact. In many cases from what religious texts could be exhumed from archeological sites stated that the reincarnated soul was wiped of all past memories or underwent change. The of course was the discourse that all souls were unique and none were reincarnated. Then rested the third theory that stated there were some reincarnated souls and new ones.

Either way to admit something as reincarnation seemed rather strange, but hardly unsurprising given that it was Naruto. Yet both Tsunade and Jiraiya couldn't see where that would lead.

"I'm a partial reincarnation of sorts of a being that had come from the time of our ancestors that had built those ghostly remains of cities and highly advanced technology…I can't explain it completely but if you bring Yasuhiro then I'm sure he will shed some light on the matter."

A disgruntled sigh escaped Tsunade's lips before she turned to Jiraiya. Then in a moment she called in the chuunin guarding her door to come in and fetch Naruto's dark haired pupil.

0o0o0o0o0

"Sasuno."

Kabuto scrambled back from the dark haired man with a heavily lined face. His blood red eyes with the dark tomoe swirled faster and faster until a third eye in the middle of his forehead revealed itself. Unlike the other two eyes the third one was milky white without irises reminding Kabuto of the fact that the Uchiha were once from the Hyuuga.

Whatever this manifestation was, he knew that it would be more dangerous than Itachi's other jutsus that went hand and hand with his doujutsu. How Itachi found their base he would never know but at this moment being all he could see was that Orochimaru was incapacitated if Itachi came to the R & D labs easily. As sweat dripped down his face he noticed that the eyes turned to the prone form of Naruto. Just as he was about to barter with the insane Uchiha for the comatose blonde the terrible eyes directed themselves to him.

"Where is Naruto?"

Kabuto refrained from jerking in surprise at the man's question. He had heard rumors of the Uchiha going blind but it wasn't this bad was it?

"He's right o-"

In moments the grey haired nin slammed against the wall as a sickening crack resounded in the air. Kabuto fought to cough up blood as he felt a wayward rib puncture a lung. It hurt like hell.

"Don't play games with me Kabuto. I tire of them. Once again where is Naruto?"

Hazy with pain the medic nin turned his eyes to the jinchuuriki. Itachi wasn't as blind as he seemed…however Kabuto couldn't understand the Uchiha's reasoning.

"That thing on the table is a bunshin."

This time light dawned on Kabuto as he swore. Of course being that Sasuno was a new development in the area, Uchiha Itachi was a master of genjutsu. As if to solidify the truth a sharp crack tore through the oppressive air. Where the blonde once occupied the bed, nothing of him remained, the scent of blood lingered in the air.

Itachi had to give Naruto credit on the puppet. Instead of rushing into the battle, he had sent in a modified Kage Bunshin in his stead. He had wondered about the ease that Orochimaru captured him…He had doubted that the blonde would allow the snake sannin to capture him so easily. Pushing past Kabuto he made his way to the medical bed to see a long rectangular slip of paper with intricate designs with dried blood. Scanning over it he could read the simpler parts of the seal but the rest was lost to him. Seal crafting hadn't been his forte nor would it ever be. However he had a faint idea that the blonde had managed to give the bunshin a life extension through the seal which ironically shared a similar design to an exploding tag sans the exploding part.

He had also been clever to add the illusion of the fox demon's chakra. Innovation wasn't something one learned but already had. There were reasons why everybody that had met the blonde always dubbed him the most surprising nin due to his innovative mind. He never quite realized the power of the blonde's mind until now. He had an idea, a feeling but he never went beyond that to explore Naruto's true potential. It was a pity that he didn't have the blood strength to activate his mother's bloodline, but his near photographic memory was nearly equivalent. He had known about the Naruto Rendan by taking the information from Sasuke's head during their meeting shortly during the Chuunin exams.

Impulsively he picked up the piece of paper and admired his cousin's handicraft. Though he had taken after his father in the field of seals and looks he also knew that in spite of the sunny looks that his cousin carried the darkness of the Uchiha Clan with the particular usage of his jutsus. Naruto could have used another medium just as effectively for the prolonged clone but he had used blood. A statement that the hidden Uchiha genes were far from dormant.

Since he had lost all hope for his little brother of understanding the meaning behind his actions, Naruto was his only hope of passing down the last of the Uchiha Clan's darkest secrets. The clan be damned that he gave the secrets to a removed family member no matter the fact that said estranged cousin was from the royal line. Naruto had proven himself worthy to take up the mantle of the truth and the burden of the Uchiha Clan. As a son of the world's greatest of seal masters to walk the earth with the same amount of talent, Naruto would indeed inherit the last visages of the dark legacy that ran through the Uchiha blood given his gifts in sealing.

For the first time since the slaughter of the Uchiha clan the dark haired man smiled.

From his spot, Kabuto froze at the sight of the other man's smile. It wasn't malicious or mad in any particular way. In fact there was an edge of smugness apparent on the normally apathetic face with what could be a mixture of pride. Pride for what? Then again Itachi's mental health had never once been refuted simply because in order to massacre a whole family without falling into madness out of guilt explained everything. To see him smile like that at a piece of paper with dried blood and designs of seals meant that Naruto had done something to please the dark haired man with three eyes.

Not for the first time ever since jumping on board with Orochimaru in what could be called the proverbial wagon train from hell, Kabut wished that he had stuck with the mundane and boring life in Konoha.

Three eyes snapped toward him as the milky eye in the center of Itachi's forehead bore into Kabuto's eyes, he became dimly aware that a loud crack cut through the air. He dimly realized that his neck had been snapped like a twig as blackness erupted in his sight.

He should have stayed bored in Konoha.

0o0o0o0o0

Sasuke stared at the room in a mixture of emotions.

He had expected something like this from someone else and not- most definitely not Naruto. Then again after all the years, the blonde had changed into someone he hardly knew. It had been his fault that Naruto became what he had become today. He just never expected this.

Before him was a full blown laboratory that he had seen many times in Orochimaru's facilities. In many ways it was better equipped than that of the sannin. Walls were crammed with cabinets and refrigerators that were locked with paper seals, but that wouldn't deter him from looking through the glass panes and the genjutsu that thinly covered the true forms that rest underneath. He had too much practice in seeing through genjutsu to be fooled and Naruto hadn't bothered to make them strong.

His eyes traveled to the chair that seemed to draw attention to itself and Sasuke realized that it was in the center of the lab with enough distance away from the cabinets to prevent loss of whatever it was that they contained. There were no gruesome failed experiments floating around with eclectic mixtures of human and creature. (Orochimaru it would seem had a strong fondness of displaying the failures like prized trophies.) It could have passed as a hospital room to the uneducated or the ignorant.

Papers were strewn about the top of the desk that sat at the far corner of the lab with a pile of books standing guard, some open, some closed. Approaching the inside of the room he noticed that the chair in the center wasn't comfortable given it had been made of dull metal with metal restraints. A small shiver ran up his spine at the sight. At least in his own twisted way, Orochimaru gave his patients the mercy of a bed as opposed to the chair with metal restraints.

Upon further inspection thanks to the desk in the corner, he uncovered the fact that Naruto hadn't been experimenting on victims or whatnot but on himself. They weren't the type of experiments that would have Orochimaru jumping the exploding note but they were morbidly interesting in their right. It wasn't often that one could read about genetic splicing. It was a Frankenstein type of thing was written on the papers.

Intricately designed seals scattered all over the messy desk belaying the amount of effort put into the experiments.

Moving away from the desk, Sasuke inspected the cabinets to see that they contained a number of herbs and concoctions in phials. His eyes roved the labels and saw that the vast majority were the exact same as the ones found in Orochimaru's laboratories. His throat tightened at the thought. Moving away from the cabinets he finally understood the power of Naruto's wasting illness. Time was running out and he had resorted to desperate measures in order to prolong what life he had left. To Sasuke the truth was world shattering.

The seals…how many seals did he use in order to maintain all of those genetic alterations? There was no doubt that it had been painful to go through the process, not to mention to risks. He moved away from the laboratory with its deceptively clean walls and floor when his eyes caught sight of a door leading elsewhere from the lab.

Curious to a fault, he opened the door.

This time he let his mask of apathy fall to the ground and shatter instantly.

Beyond the door, a room with dim blue lighting and a medical bed with a glass dome covering it revealed itself to him. He forced his limbs forward, stepping carefully around the numerous machines hooked up to the covered bed. His breath materialized in the cold air as he finally stood in front of the frosted glass. However it wasn't completely covered with ice crystals. A part of him urged him to turn back, to forget about it, but his burning curiosity demanded him to look. He knew that Naruto was devious but never knew the level of deviousness that the blonde had.

Not for the first time he gave into his impulses.

Yet he had instantly wished that he hadn't.

"Your need to uncover every secret has been a vice."

Startled the normally apathetic Uchiha turned his head to find Naruto leaning against the door frame. What Sasuke saw around him made him open his eyes at the truth of the matter. Naruto had stopped letting what Neji called Fate pushing him around a while ago- now he was a mastermind chess player staring out from beyond the board, playing a nearly unseen game with Fate.

To be able to do something on that scale meant that he could have killed Orochimaru a long time ago. The only question had been why? Why would Naruto allow himself or rather a clone to be captured? Why did he still cling to the shadows? Nothing made sense anymore as far as the blonde was concerned. What kind of man had Naruto become with his ruthless manipulations of the people around him and the brutal abuse he did to himself?

"What do you gain in this?" Sasuke asked when he found his will to speak. He had seen atrocities in Orochimaru's care but nothing to this extent. Not even the serpent sannin had enough deviousness to pull something like this off.

Blue eyes bore into his.

"Peace."

Peace? Peace had never been Naruto's habits. If not, then why now? Then it came to Sasuke as to what the blonde was implying. What he had in mind was to unleash something so devastating to any threats to Konoha that nothing would ever touch it for the next thousand years.

"Akatsuki…you want to do something so devastating to them that they wouldn't dare approach Konoha or slight it." He hissed as Naruto looked away to stare at the equipment in the room.

"Yes."

Sasuke kept staring at the contents of the room before he brought himself to face the man who had destroyed all connections to them save for the bond of servant to master. He hated the term that the Council members used but by all aspects it was a true term. He was a pawn in Naruto's game of intricate webs. He had been so for a long time now. It didn't help with the fact that Naruto's games were going into the final level before fulfillment…or what, he didn't know. Naruto's deviousness, it would seem went beyond his expectations.

0o0o0o0o0

It didn't take a genius to know that Sasuke would begin poking around once again where he wasn't wanted. He always had been nosey that way. Naruto knew it and purposely let the Uchiha discover his laboratories. He didn't mind in the least. If it would keep the dark haired man away in the future then so be it. The look of shock was all he needed to fulfill the fact that the Uchiha understood perfectly that he wasn't going to pull his punches.

Blood stained his hands, abomination ran through his veins, and his body was fast deteriorating.

Time wasn't on his side but the gifts he had developed were as well as his bloodline no matter how awkward. The game he had set out to play was swiftly making its way up to the final stage where everything was dependent on one move. New developments be damned. Chihaya be damned. This was his world, his time and he would end his life on his terms.

Letting out a breath he covered his eyes with a hand then let them fall away as he looked up at the digital clock embedded in the office wall. Times like this he had wished that Tsunade had taken his consideration for an analog ticking clock to heart. The silence was nearly oppressing as the other two sannin stared at the door, hoping for it to open in any moment.

In fact the door opened spilling light from the hallway into the darkened office causing Naruto to wince a little at the light. Having pale eyes was bad enough medical-wise, coming back from a tiring hypnotic trance only compounded his already inborn sensitivity to light. For a moment Yasuhiro was silhouetted before he entered the office. In resignation, Naruto stood up and flicked on one of two light switches, giving the office enough light to conduct business but not enough to make him feel particularly ill to his stomach.

Even in the dim lighting, Naruto could see that his pupil had not seen his needed amount of sleep. Dark shadows played under his eyes and his skin seemed paler than usual, making him nearly transparent. Naruto on the other hand had a feeling that the boy suffered from insomnia.

"Sensei!" Apparently the boy had enough energy in him to shout out in surprise.

Naruto nodded in acknowledgement as the boy nervously took a seat in the other chair, eyeing the Hokage and sannin before letting his gaze rest on Naruto.

"Sato, Yasuhiro do you know why you've been summoned to this office?" Tsunade asked, cutting to the chase, her brown eyes studying the dark haired boy who slightly fidgeted under the scrutiny of her gaze.

"Yes." Yasuhiro answered firmly as he steeled himself, throwing his sensei a reluctant glance. He didn't know where to begin.

Fortunately Naruto had sensed the boy's hesitance in approaching the subject. "Perhaps it would be best for you to explain your visions to us."

Yasuhiro nodded weakly as he stared out of the window for he did not wish to see the looks of horror at the tale he had to tell.

0o0o0o0o0

AN: I didn't realize this until now but it would seem that it's the first anniversary since I started this fic. I can't believe that it's been one year since I created it. One full year and I'm still going strong. My last chapter didn't garner a lot of reviews and I understand that a lot of you were angry or confused about Hinata's involvement.

Her involvement like so many characters is minimal and I'm not focusing on romance since it would only serve to detract me from telling the story. However that chapter is a significant one that takes an open mind to get through and plays a significant role in the plot.


	12. Chapter 12

Kurokawa

"Don't be afraid to live life, to allow love to grow because it is what makes this harsh life tolerable."

Chapter Twelve

The doors were ancient and carved of weathered limestone. Strange, half known carvings ran along the stone and Naruto had the distinct feeling that the carvings on the stone doors were depicting something…a warning perhaps? Yasuhiro's trembling voice filled his mind with their clarity as if it were only a moment before that he heard them when in reality Yasuhiro's words of spiraling descent to darkness were spoken a week prior. Chihaya had remembered.

Blue eyes widened in recognition…it was a poorly created imitation of the gates that had been opened years past.

Naruto grit his teeth as his eyes tool a steely glint before he reached out to touch the rough stone beneath his hands. The texture was grainy; rough and if enough pressure was applied he would bleed. He almost rashly ran his hands through the rough surface of the doors just to feel pain run along his palms.

He wanted to see the crimson red of blood sweep across the sandy surface.

This was what he had been looking for even though the price was high. Nothing was new about that fact. He would always pay the price no matter the fact that it was high-exceedingly so.

It didn't surprise him when the gigantic doors swung open on their own accord and into darkness.

He had been here so many times before that the gods forbid- he was getting used to it.

Smiling bitterly, Naruto stepped across the threshold as cold winds from inside tore at his formal attire and his blonde hair. Only his glowing blue eyes were left as the doors shut behind him. Bracing himself his bitter smile only grew more brittle when the interior suddenly blazed with lights. Standing before him were the remaining members of Akatsuki in all of their glory. However there was one more presence that hid itself in the shadows. A presence that he- no…Chihaya knew well.

"So you finally came Uzumaki Naruto…or should I say…Sasuno Chihaya!"

Like puppets with their strings cut, the visible members began to come at him with gusto.

Pity really…the battle would end so soon; however he was short on time and this was his only chance to end things for good. He was pleased to note that Orochimaru had also joined the rest of the rabble.

Naruto took a deep breath before releasing it. "From the darkness came light and from that light born all things in the universe…The gods of the old had deemed it time to create life and take pleasure from their work…I take the dark and the light and unify them as one. I accept the other part of me that I have held away. I accept myself for who I am for I am both Chihaya and Naruto, yet at the same time am neither. I am who I am." He intoned solemnly as he felt chakra boil in his veins and the walls between his soul and Chihaya's vanish.

A vortex of wind surrounded him, pushing the attackers away for a moment. The smell of ozone filled the air as it grew heavy and humid. Sounds akin to electrical sparks filled the cavernous chambers.

In the epicenter was Naruto whose hair turned ghastly white.

The gathered watched in mixed fascination and horror as entire area was saturated with chakra and for the first time in ages…the world had been graced with the sight of…

Twelve blood red angelic wings made of pure light and energy.

They could only vaguely, on an instinctual level realize that what stood before them wasn't a demon vessel but something else.

A god.

0o0o0o0o0

The world raged and Konoha wasn't spared from the sudden change in weather. Winds howled, rattling windows and blowing everything in its path away. People vanished to the warmth and security of their homes, peering out of the windows wondering what would bring about such as storm. The older generation muttered amongst themselves as news came from other parts of the world reporting the similar effects. They began to go to the shrines and buy protective charms though the younger generation scoffed at such acts.

However, as the storms continued their onslaught day after day, tension began to build up and the older generation began to tell stories.

Stories of ages past and of gods.

Tsunade herself knew of the stories, having listened to them in her grandfather's lap as a child. They were terrifying stories and not told often due to the amount of disturbing themes and symbolism littered all over them. Her parents threw a fit when her grandfathers told her the stories. Orochimaru being an orphan didn't know them but Jiraiya did. He had a high fascination with arcane things so it wasn't much of a surprise. She shivered as she glanced out of her window as beads of rain ran down the panes in small rivulets. It was depressingly dark grey outside and the sounds of pouring rain prevailed. Yet, she could feel a hint of malice in the weather.

Fairytales weren't as happy as they were painted as. They were based off of stories that were darker, more disturbing and never had happy endings.

Just as the demons became focal points of the world, so did the stories that surrounded them and the gods.

She had almost forgotten the stories until Naruto left Konoha to put an end to everything.

It all fell into place once Yasuhiro Sato began to recite them with chilling clarity.

These were stories that had stretched for hundreds of years from mouth to mouth and surprisingly enough, very little had changed from their original counterparts. It had been seven days since Naruto had left. Seven days since the world plunged into eerie darkness.

Thirteen years…

Nine demons…

Seven days…

Two conflicting identities…

One conclusion.

Tsunade closed her eyes, trying to prevent the haunting words from surfacing but failed. Soon people would not even attempt to come out and even the shinobi could feel the acrid taste of maliciousness hidden in the storm.

"The stories of old hold some truth to them after all."

The blonde haired woman merely sighed as she shuffled her papers. She wasn't going to get much done today, not with this kind of mood hanging over her head. Shizune was taking her time in bringing the tea.

"All stories hold a hint of truth in them. You should know. Those rags of yours most certainly do from what I've heard." She muttered as her eyes glanced to the side at the framed photo on her desk. It had been taken shortly after she had agreed to become the Hokage. He had been such a cute kid back then. It only seemed like yesterday.

"True. However these stories are hundreds of years old. To retain their originality…is almost unheard of." Jiraiya replied.

"Time is a funny thing and that Sato kid confirmed them. Funny to think that all those bloodlines were all failures in the path towards godhood; though the stories say that the clans married minor gods. It's a wonder that the gods haven't destroyed all of us yet. Though I must say that they're system is rather- inconvenient and Naruto…he shouldn't be so accepting."

She idly traced a finger over Naruto's face, feeling the cold glass under her finger. It really wasn't fair.

"Naruto's tired."

Those words were spoken so bitterly that Tsunade looked up to see Jiraiya stare out of the windows with a deep set frown on his face. She could see that his hands were clenched into fists. She understood his words well. There was nothing they could do at this point any longer. The gods had willed it and so it would remain with Naruto to choose what he needed to- knowing him…it wasn't hard to see what the outcome would end up as.

Thunder roared as the windows rattled and muted the sound of the office door being flung open. The power went out leaving the office plunged in semi darkness. Even with the sudden loss of light Tsunade had abruptly stood up and faced the door and saw Sakura standing there panting harshly, her entire form drenched with water.

In the sudden flash of lightening Tsunade could see emerald eyes filled with fear and pain gaze back at her.

"Hokage-sama."

Her words came out as a choked sob.

Three…

It keeps coming back to three.

Tsunade reached over to her drawer and withdrew a package. Naruto had given it to her before he had left.

_'If Sakura comes…or doesn't come- give this to her. It was never meant to be I know, however even denying all these years…I still can't forget.'_

She tossed it to Sakura who caught the package.

"Sakura go home."

"But Hokage-sama…"

Anguish.

Tsunade closed her eyes as the skies continued with its mourning. Yes, that was it. Mourning.

"Go."

Nothing more needed to be said. Jiraiya had come because he knew. He had always known and been there to support her when reality closed in on her. Sakura had no one but she was young and she would overcome it eventually. It was what Naruto had wanted. The world was a cruel place and the gods were crueler.

A rattled breath was inhaled; it sounded like a dry sob before the pink haired woman whirled around and fled the dark office.

Tsunade was more than aware of the tears that were running down her face.

It was too late…all too late.

Sakura had lost her chance and Naruto had given up but never forgot. It was never meant to be.

Ironic really; Tsunade could recall that it was the same way between Jiraiya and herself.

0o0o0o0o0

Sasuke had come to the complex once again. He couldn't let the vision of what he saw in Naruto's complex escape his mind's eye. He had braved the storm to get here. Against the dark grey backdrop, the entire place seemed to take an ominous and almost hostile stance. The structures loomed protectively as if to conceal what was inside. He had already seen all that he wanted to know. His traditional clothes were soaked but he didn't mind in the least when he took off his geta and made his way towards the paper screen doors. Pushing them back he stepped into the building.

Pulling everything from memory he soon came upon the laboratories that Naruto had kept hidden from the rest of the world. He pushed his way into the secondary room to stare at the medical bed and the dome of glass that covered it. He looked up to stare at the columns of glass cylinders that lined the back wall with only the blue back lighting illuminating them. Unlike the dome in front of him, the strange glass cylinders were completely frosted over.

Looking away from them, though his curiosity burned in him, he turned his gaze to the dome.

He reached out to touch the cold glass pane.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A childish voice said.

Sasuke retracted his hand as if he had been burned and whirled around.

Standing at a door way was a small girl wearing a layered kimono that was better suited for the Heian Era than today's current fashion trends. He figured her to be no older than six or so. She was pretty for a six year old with long crimson red hair, snowy white skin and ice blue eyes. A shiver ran up Sasuke's spine at the shading of those eyes. They were Naruto's exact shade.

"Who are you?" He asked.

She smiled at him before gesturing him to come out of the room.

He hesitated before following her back to the labs.

"I am Suzume. You must be Uchiha Sasuke." She said.

In the better lighting of the labs, Sasuke saw the freakish similarities between her and Naruto. His throat went dry as his mind raced.

"A-are…" Sasuke took a deep breath to steady himself, "Naruto's daughter?"

"In a way I suppose I am." Suzume answered with a grin.

"What's that supposed to mean? It's a yes or no question."

"Tou-san has a large reputation. A few shinobi in Cloud Country thought that they could create genetically superior shinobi. They sole his DNA possibly from hair and whatnot and impregnated my mother who destroyed the labs and fled Cloud to Konoha. She barely was able to hide her whereabouts and made it to Konoha safely to give birth to me. She died shortly afterwards after telling Tou-san what happened."

Sasuke stared at her in a mixture of horror and guilt.

Naruto had a daughter. He had never expected it- even though she was born out of unusual circumstances…but still! He had never known and yet…

"I…"

"Father is a kind man; however he has always been in pain. He may seem like there's nothing wrong but deep down inside I know that he hurts. He's the saddest man in the world because everywhere he goes people hurt him. He never says anything but I can see it. You hurt him and he forgave you- but what you never realize and what very few do…is that it is because of his kindness that he's going to save us all."

He stared at the girl in confusion as guilt gripped him.

"Surely you know the stories Uchiha-san." She told him cheerfully.

Sasuke only managed to weakly shake his head.

Suzume graced him with a look that was a mixture of understanding and sorrow.

"Father was Chosen, but he still wants to live- to be alive."

Shivers ran up Sasuke's spine as the girl came closer to him with her sad smile.

His senses screamed at him of the truth, of what Naruto was going to do but he didn't want to acknowledge it.

"He would be no different than Orochimaru." Sasuke rasped as he took a slow stuttering breath. "Why would he? He's never been afraid of death."

"Father doesn't want me to be alone."

Something in Sasuke twisted in agony at her words. She was only six and Naruto didn't want her to be alone. Naruto grew up by himself and Sasuke did as well. To lose that warmth, that love was harsh to a child. Naruto had something to live for, he always did. Ironic really. To tell the truth Sasuke was a tad jealous that his friend had a child, even if conceived by unconventional means.

"Does the Hokage know that you're his daughter?" He asked.

Suzume giggled before shaking her head. "Dad never told anyone and swore the medic who oversaw my birth to secrecy. He won't let me leave the complex because he's afraid that the Cloud nins will want to kidnap me, that the Konoha Council want me killed and Iwa as well. He's been teaching me though so that I can fend for myself." She brought an arm up to flex her muscles in a childish manner.

Guilt ate away at Sasuke as he looked down at the linoleum floor. "I'm sorry." He said.

"There's no need to be sorry Uchiha-san. People make mistakes, what counts, is how you correct them."

It was exactly something Naruto would have said years ago in one of his rarer moments of seriousness.

"Life's like a spiral and father wants to break free from that spiral."

"I think- that he already has." Sasuke replied.

0o0o0o0o0

In the backdrop of a dark apartment with thunder roaring and lightening flashing Sakura sat on her couch in her living room staring at the slightly soggy package before her. Her hair dripped with the rainwater but she didn't care. Sitting beside the package was the delicate glass leaf that Naruto had given her all those years ago. It was broken in half and had been since the past half hour when the thunder began to roar.

Her hands were clenched into fists as her shoulders shook from her pain more than from the cold.

Somewhere in her heart she knew that something would happen to Naruto. He had known all along and she being the stupid foolish person she was had been too late in realizing that she loved him. If only there was some way she could turn back time to tell him that she loved him- that she reached out to him before he became withdrawn and so distant.

She had been so blind, so selfish and he so selfless.

Why? Why did he have to suffer?

The gods were cruel beings indeed.

Hot tears ran down her frozen cheeks, scalding in their descent.

She was just as cruel as them.

0o0o0o0o0

Ice blue eyes stared ahead into blood red eyes. Just two more to go and he would be finished. He would be free to return the demons back to where they belonged and move on to face the judgment of the other gods.

"I don't want to talk to the god but to Naruto my cousin. The leader can wait for you Chihaya." Itachi intoned as he approached the deity.

"If that is what you wish."

White hair turned blonde and the facial markings reappeared but the wings stayed.

"Itachi." Naruto said solemnly.

The dark haired man reached into his cloak and took off his necklace and pulled out a small bag. He tossed both items to Naruto who deftly caught them. There was no point on attempting to struggle against a god. He had seen his colleagues and Orochimaru flattened in a matter of moments.

"You have my permission to take over. Now, kill me."

"Itachi!"

Itachi ignored the angered shouts from the leader. He had known that his cousin would defeat him and had prepared for it. Violent winds filled the area once again as Uzumaki Naruto vanished to leave behind the unforgiving god.

His last vision on earth would be cold blue eyes before he departed to hell.

As the body of Uchiha Itachi sagged onto the ground lifeless, cold ice blue eyes stared up at the podium where a woman stood.

"Tsubaki." He growled in displeasure.

"Chihaya, it's been a long time." She smirked as her dark hair framed her face and purple eyes stared back at him. "I've waited-"

"So long to kill you." He whispered in her ear as her purple eyes widened in shock.

He pulled away from her as blood began to pour from her wound.

"I loved you…why?"

Bitterness filled his face as he gazed at her, unmoving.

"You made me this way. A god and poisoned my father's mind with your greed and I have atoned for our sins of ages past."

Tears ran down her face as life left her eyes and she slumped to the ground.

He moved past her corpse towards the back where he could feel the pulses of the sealed demons. They would be returned to their rightful place save for two. Cutting his palms he let the blood drip to the floor as his hands went through a sequence of hand seals and chants. The air tensed and he began to feel the strain. This body wouldn't last much longer after this. The gates appeared in their terrifying glory as he turned to the cages and released the sealed beasts. They didn't fight him knowing that he had power over them. Turning towards the gates he willed to open and began to direct the demons back to where they belonged. He paid no mind to the blood that was trailing from the corner of his mouth.

"That doesn't look so good."

He turned to see Kakashi, Gai and Kurenai. They had come with him to round up the bodies as proof of Akatsuki's demise.

"It's no matter. Are you ready?" He asked.

The Jounin looked at each other before nodding.

Without further explanation, he closed his eyes and began to chant as his hands moved into various seals. The wings grew larger and encased the gathered Jounin with their storage scroll. Moments later in a flash of light all four of them had left the ruins.

He staggered a bit when they appeared at the gates of Konoha, the wings vanishing. Forcing himself to move, he presented his papers and made his way into the gates, ignoring the stares of surprise and wariness that followed him. Naruto didn't go far when he was presented with Sasuke and Sakura standing before him.

"I'm back. It's over."

The rain came down on him, easing his weariness.

"We know Naruto." Sakura said with a sad smile.

A small smile graced his lips as he fell into oblivion and knew no more.

He never saw the tears that ran down her face nor the sudden sorrow that graced Sasuke's dark eyes.

That day the rain continued to pour and the inhabitants settled to digest the story's ending.

That day a dove made its way to Tsunade's office.

She read the message with a frown then cried.

At the complex Suzume made her way back to the labs where she pressed her hands on the glass dome and peered in.

A hand twitched and she smiled.

0o0o0o0o0

Part One End

0o0o0o0o0

AN: It's done, after so long. I finally finished it. Before you complain, I purposely made it end on a vague note because there's going to be a sequel in which a lot of things will be explained.

Thanks for putting up with me and my failure to update. Now go check out Millennia. XD


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